Feeding Time – Feed Her To The Sharks

Posted on July 28, 2015 by newsteam

Australia has produced quite the number of new faces within the metal scene and Feed Her To The Sharks has swam under the radar and has been drawn the attention of fans everywhere they have ventured into. This summer’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival is the band’s debut North American tour and are soaking in the somewhat overcast spot in Southern California.

“It’s been an unbelievable experience so far, even though it’s been only one day,” said guitarist Kim Choo, about their first 48 hours on American soil in Devore, CA. “You sort of see from us from being from Australia, we see DVDs of bands playing festivals of this sort of scale, but it’s so far away for us. Now that we’re here playing these shows, it’s just an awesome experience. We’re stoked.”

He shared his thoughts about being on the touring festival and what it means to be part of this tour, especially being it is their first time across North America. “We were a bit worried because we were playing when Hellyeah were just finishing and before King Diamond. So obviously there are two separate stages. People definitely came back and checked us out. We were stoked.”

“There were people who even know a lot of our songs. [It was] one of the biggest crowds we played in front of – all of these Mayhem dates seem to be crazy. Today it looks like the upwards of 5000 people here. It’s going to be mental. We’re really looking forward to doing this tour.”

Feed Her To The Sharks at Rockstar Mayhem Fest – Devore, CA (via Facebook)

They are thankful for all of the support they have had behind their latest album Fortitude, and having friends on the tour made the transition onto this festival tour an easy one.

“We’ve gotten a lot of support from our label Victory Records and we’ve got some mates on this tour. The guys in Thy Art is Murder – they’re an Australian band as well. We just finished touring Europe with those guys. We’re not new to playing shows, but I guess we’re new to doing the festival runs. So far so good – we’re really enjoying it.“

Any specific acts they’re looking forward to seeing this summer? “Slayer. I grew up listening to a lot of thrash. Fuck yeah. It’s going to be sick. King Diamond’s going to be killer. Obviously Thy Art is Murder and Whitechapel is going to be brutal. I can’t wait.”

Fortitude is their third album overall and their first album released internationally. Choo explained after shuffling lineups since their start in 2008, they were able to bring in players who would help shape their sound into what is heard on the release.

“We never really had a full lineup for the first two records (2010’s The Beauty Of Falling and 2013’s Savage Seas). We’re basically in between members and lineup changes. Luckily we came across some rad dudes who really wanted to do this and treat this seriously. We got the right lineup.”

“So for this album compared to the first two, we had a full lineup. We had everyone who was 100% forward. Everyone worked towards the same goal and that’s what makes this record, in my opinion, so much better than our previous two. We’ve got everyone working together in unison to make the best record that we can.”

Aside from Choo and vocalist Andy Van Der Zalm, the band had not held a steady lineup until recently. “We’re the only two original members. We’ve got Marinos (Katsanevas, guitars), Rob (Davies, bass) and Andrew (‘Stix’ Coterell), who are the other three members. Rob’s been around for a bit longer, since Savage Seas, our second record. The other two guys came along when we were writing this new album. It went really well.” “We found the right guys who could take our band to that next step. We’re stoked that we found a really cool group of dudes that we enjoy being friends with and we enjoy doing business with.”

Their band moniker does definitely sounds Australian, as sharks and the whole oceanic vibe paints a vivid picture into what their sound could be like. “The first song we wrote as a band is off our first album called The Beauty of Falling called ‘Misery.’ The opening line to that song is ‘feed her to the sharks’,“ explained Choo.

“At the time we wrote that song, we didn’t have a band name yet, but it kind of stuck with us. We thought it was a cool sound theme. It sounded good on fliers. It stood out for people. It’s got that Australian sort of feel to it.”

After the Rockstar Mayhem Festival, they have a couple of upcoming tours back home. “We have a couple of tours back home in Australia. We’ve got one with Nile and Unearth. It’s going to be sick. It’s in November. I can’t say anything about the other tour quite yet. It’s not announced yet. We’re going to be doing the rounds of Australia a couple of times. We haven’t played there for a while now. We’re hoping to head back to Europe and doing that run again. We had a really good response there so we’re going to try to go back and try our luck.”

Feed Her To The Sharks at Rockstar Mayhem Fest 2015 – Albuquerque, NM (via Facebook)

While the band is enjoying their time on the tour, they escaped the opposite season known now as winter back home. Technically, Feed Her To The Sharks scored by getting two summers this year and Choo is stoked about this.

“It’s so good man to be away from Australia, or Melbourne in particular while it’s winter there. People think it’s Australia but in Melbourne it gets cold in winter. It’s really cold. We don’t get snow or anything crazy like that, but it’s cold. I’m so glad to be here right now.”

By Rei Nishimoto

Video: Nile – Call To Destruction Lyric Video, Pre-Orders Live Today

Posted on July 24, 2015 by News Team

Nile band 2015 photo credit Nuclear Blast Records

Death metal legends Nile has released a lyric video for the lead track from their upcoming new album What Should Not Be Unearthed (Nuclear Blast). You can watch the lyric video at this link or see it below:

What Should Not Be Unearthed track listing:
1. Call To Destruction
2. Negating The Abominable Coils Of Apep
3. Liber Stellae Rubeae
4. In The Name Of Amun
5. What Should Not Be Unearthed
6. Evil To Cast Out Evil
7. Age Of Famine
8. Ushabti Reanimator
9. Rape Of The Black Earth
10. To Walk Forth From Flames Unscathed

Karl Sanders comments on the new album:

“The goal for the new record was sheer epic brutality. The focus this time around is on brutal Heavy Metal riffing and songwriting;kind of like of an Annihilation Of The Wicked approach but very streamlined to achieve maximum destructive impact. So we believe that we have a truly crushing disc to bring to metal fans. Although Unearthed is still full of the kind of undeniable musicianship people have come to expect from us over the years, it’s the songs themselves that will hit listeners over the head this time around.”

What Should Be Not Unearthed releases August 28^th. ‘Call To Destruction’ can be ordered as a single here. Following the release of the album the band will embark on a short headline tour of Europe with Suffocation.

Nile UK tour dates, with Suffocation:

Aug 29: Massivefest – Warszawa, PL

Aug 30: Klub Alibi – Wroclaw, PL

Aug 31: K17 – Berlin, DE

Sept 01: Tivoli – Bremen, DE

Sept 02: Garage – Saarbrucken, DE

Sept 03: Backstage – Munich, DE

Sept 04: Meh Stuff Metal Festival – Hüttikon, CH

Sept 05: Base de loisirs de Vaires-Torcy – Torcy, FR

Sept 06: The Hub – Plymouth. UK
Sept 07: Sound Control – Manchester, UK
Sept 08: The Dome – London, UK
Sept 09: The Marble Factory – Bristol, UK

https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/nile-us

Humangled – Prodromes of a Flatline

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Steve Tovey

While Italian death metal has never been able to get a word in edgeways when competing with its rivals from Sweden or the USA, the genre is in ruder health these days due to the international success of acts such as Fleshgod Apocalypse and Hour of Penance. This resurgence in fortunes has led to a few old hands reforming for another crack of the whip and Tuscan stalwarts Humangled are one of them. Prodromes of a Flatline (Bakerteam) is the group’s second effort since 2010’s Fractal (Abyss) turned a few heads. So is it enough to gain them a seat at the big boys table?

Unfortunately the answer is a definite no. While their strand of death metal certainly packs a punch, most noticeably on opening track ‘Liberté, Égalité, Brutalité’, there is not only too little going on throughout Prodromes of a Flatline to merit repeated spins, but crucially nothing to make the band stand out from the crowd. There’s not enough of the technicality of Nile, the brutality of Cryptopsy or the catchiness of Deicide, so we are left with a rather unappetising lumpen stew of the most bog standard elements of death metal, bereft of flavour and passion.

Too often it feels that the band is just going through the motions, often with some rather forced and clumsy transitions between parts that really should have been ironed out in the recording studio. At worst they come across as simply derivative as on the Death-aping ‘Intimacy Curse’ and God knows what possessed them to record such a horrible cover of ‘To Mega Therion’ and tack it on the end of the record. At best they’re a support band that tries hard for twenty-five minutes with the occasional half-catchy riff. However, in this day and age, it’s certainly not worth reforming for

5.0/10

JAMES CONWAY

Albert Mudrian – Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore (Reissue)

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Steve Tovey

Released twelve years ago, Albert Mudrian’s anthology of Death Metal has stood the test of time; an engaging read taking you on a loose zig-zag through the birth and, um, death of Death Metal. Unveiled through the eyes of its’ progenitors, there is method to the tale that begins in England, moves to Tampa, takes in Entombed and Scandinavia and reserves a special mention for the oft overlooked Dutch input of Gorefest and Pestilence.

Undertaking a task as complicated as trying to find the true source of the Nile (Karl Sanders – badoom tish!), Mudrian begins his tale by trying to uncover the birth of what became known as Death Metal, settling on Napalm Death and their 1985 era hybrid (Siege meets Discharge meets Celtic Frost) of hardcore punk, thrash and a desire to be harder, faster, sicker than everyone else. The book then focuses on the influence of their Scum release (Earache) on other vital artists, like Morbid Angel (via Pete Sandoval, then in Terrorizer) and the incestuous, small nature of the scene where, due to tape trading and pen palling, most of Death Metal’s predominant protagonists all knew and inspired each other.

As the tales unfurl, you find yourself swept up and wanting to revisiting all the classic albums that are mentioned – Possessed ‘s Seven Churches (Combat), Pestilence Consvming Impvlse (Roadrunner), Massacre From Beyond (the story of Massacre’s signing to Earache being another fun aside revealed in the book) and Master Master (Displeased) forming part of my own soundtrack while reading.

The re-issue picks things up as the roots of recovery were just sprouting through the top soil at the tail end of the 90’s, highlighting the rise of a new DM general in Nile. After touching on the diversification of Death Metal of this millennium, including the mind-sucking brilliance of Portal and their focus on eldritch, dark atmospheres, Mudrian covers the popularity of technical Death Metal (a section that introduced me to Necrophagist and Obscura as you can’t help but be enthused to check all the recommends as you go) over the last decade. The tome now concludes by covering the return to the scene of the apex predators with Carcass, At The Gates, Death (DTA) and others reforming to reap the benefits of their respective legacies and the rewards of the now lucrative and high profile festival market, and to satisfy an urge that, in the case of Bill Steer, they didn’t even know they had. If you read the original, the added content is an agreeable appendix.

Peppered with short anecdotes, but above all an informative and enjoyable potted history of Death Metal, all imparted with the enthusiastic love that a doting parent has for a child, Choosing Death is an affectionate, if whistlestop, walk through of the story of Death Metal to date. In the authors’ own words, he is “Just a fan. Just like you.” He just happens to be a damn good writer who has written The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore. And updated it.

Buy the book here:

8.5/10

STEVE TOVEY

Nile Releasing What Should Not Be Unearthed In Late Summer Via Nuclear Blast

Posted on May 27, 2015 by newsteam

Nile is currently in the studio completing mixing of their upcoming album What Should Not Be Unearthed. The record was produced by the band and mixed by Neil Kernon, and will be released late summer via Nuclear Blast Records.

Mastermind Karl Sanders states:

“All of us in Nile are happy to announce our newest album What Should Not Be Unearthed. It’s our 8th official album, and this time we believe we have a truly crushing disc to bring to metal fans. The focus this time around is on brutally heavy metal riffing and songwriting; kind of like of an Annihilation Of The Wicked approach but very streamlined to achieve maximum destructive impact. Our last record, At The Gates Of Sethu, was super surgically clean and very “musicianship oriented” whereas the new disc is a polar opposite; Unearthed is aimed straight at utter metal heaviness and memorable songwriting. Although Unearthed is still full of the kind of undeniable musicianship people have come to expect from Nile over the years, it’s the songs themselves that will hit listeners over the head this time around. These songs will be a blast to play live, and we are stoked at the opportunity to bring these songs to metal fans everywhere. See you on tour!”

Nile on Facebook
Nile on Twitter
Nile on YouTube

George Kolias – Invictus

Posted on May 21, 2015 by News Team

If you are the kind of heavy music fan that enjoys fast drumming with catchy guitar riffs and a hint of blackened death metal, then George Kollias is your man. Coming from Nile fame, the heavy metal world knows George and his accomplishments as a drummer. However, he comes out swinging on his solo début, Invictus (Season of Mist). Outside a handful of guest guitar solos and guest vocals, George recorded all the rest of the instruments for the record. With eleven tracks that clock in around the fifty-four minute mark, there is enough glorious death metal to make even the crabbiest elitist entertained!

Track by track I found myself whistling guitar riff after guitar riff as they get more catchy with each song. It was tough picking out the favorites on this release as each song has its own interesting personality even after a handful of times through the album. I found the tracks that stood above the rest were the ones that sounded like new Behemoth or Septicflesh songs. Of course I am not saying George did covers or is “ripping them off”, but more in the sense that he was clearly influenced by his peers other work to help shape what he wanted Invictus to sound like. There are four tracks right in a row that I cannot seem to listen to unless they are right in order: ‘Aeons of Burning Galaxies’, ‘Shall Rise/Shall Be Dead’, ‘Voices’, and ‘Treasures of Nemesis’. I have caught myself at work on more than a few occasions either whistling the guitar riffs or smacking my two index fingers off of my desk as if I was George Kollias himself behind a set. Not taking anything away from the rest of the album (yes it is that good), but I just felt most connected to this stretch of the album.

Overall, I am more than pleased with the work done by Mr. Kollias here. Aside from the noted guests, George can play guitar, and boy can he play it well. Vocally he’s also quite gifted too! While not anything completely unique to the death metal world in terms of sound, Invictus has proven to all that George Kollias the solo artist is the real deal. Look out Dave Grohl, someone else in the world can play as many instruments as you do!

7.0/10

WORDS BY TIM LEDIN

Nile Recording New Album

Posted on March 9, 2015 by newsteam

South Carolina technical death metallers Nile are currently recording guitars for their upcoming album, due summer 2015 via Nuclear Blast.

Drummer George Kollias recently gave an update on the band in a recent interview:

“[We’ll] release the album around June. And we have a European tour with Suffoca in September/October, and we’re talking about a U.S. tour, maybe, [starting in] mid-November.”

In regards to a possible album title:

“We’re not sure yet, so I can’t really tell. But if the one we have right now… I mean, we have a title, but, seriously, it’s not the final one. But if that’s the final one — I mean, if this is gonna be the title — it’s one of our songs which is the most difficult song I’ve ever played in my life. Like, seriously, it’s so hard to play. We were working on this song for three days. This has never happened with Nile — working on one song for three days. It’s never happened. It’s a song that, if you’re a drummer, and you wanna play it, or a guitar player as well, you’re gonna have troubles. [Laughs] It’s not that long. I think it’s around six minutes or something… But it’s crazy. Totally crazy.”

Nile Reissuing First Four Album On Vinyl In April

Posted on February 14, 2015 by newsteam

Death metallers Nile will have their first four full length albums get the deluxe reissuing treatment via Relapse Records this Spring as part of the label’s ongoing 25th anniversary celebration. The albums Amongst The Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (1998), Black Seeds of Vengeance (2000), In Their Darkened Shrines (2002) and Annihilation of the Wicked (2005) have all been out-of-print on vinyl since their initial release, with the exception of Amongst the Catacombs…, which has been out of print for over seven years. All four albums can be heard here.

The deluxe reissues will each contain a digital download code of the full album and will be released on April 7th in North America, April 6th in UK/World, and April 3rd in Germany/Benelux/Finland. A trailer showcasing all of the color options can be viewed here.

Nervecell Streaming “Amok Doctrine”

Posted on February 9, 2015 by newsteam

Nervecell is streaming “Amok Doctrine,” off their newly released album Psychogenocide, out now via Unique Leader Records here.

Produced and engineered by guitarist Rami H. Mustafa at Spellbind Studio in Dubai, UAE with drums engineered by Joe Haley at Red Planet Studios in Hobart, Australia, then mixed and mastered by Wojtek and Slawek Wieslawscy at Hertz Studios (Behemoth, Vader, Decapitated) in Bialystok, Poland, Psychogenocide boasts Psycroptic’s David Haley on session drums as well a guest vocal appearance from Nile’s Karl Sanders on “Shunq (To The Despaired…King Of Darkness).”

Unique Leader Records on Facebook

Hideous Divinity Streaming Bass Play Along Video Of “Sinister and Demented”

Posted on November 30, 2014 by newsteam

Italian death metallers Hideous Divinity has released their new album Cobre Verde via Unique Leader Records, and has posted a bass play along video for “Sinister And Demented” here.

The album was tracked at 16th Cellar Studios and features a guest vocal appearance by Dallas Toler-Wade of Nile on “The Alonest Of The Alone.”