Forever Still are a young Danish Alternative Metal band who have without a doubt came out of nowhere, having released their debut album 'Tied Down' and then end up signing with Nuclear Blast; 'Tied Down' was then re-released', to then secure a slot on the Ronnie James Dio stage at Bloodstock is a tremendous achievement given the band has been around 7 years... well actually it's Maja Shining and Mikkel Haastrup who lead the front-line and are supplemented by live musicians (who include Rune Frisch).

Despite their seemingly sudden explosion onto the metal circuit, they've been around since 2010 and have released 3 EP's prior to their big break. Denmark has had a decent record of metal exports from Artillery to King Diamond and from Mnemic to Raunchy and are still delivering more and more top notch metal bands like Akoma and of course Forever Still.

Mikkel was up for the task of informing us what makes the band tick, the state of the Danish Metal scene, Mikkel's music tastes among other things that make Forever Still as equally if not more important than Denmark's biggest exports besides metal... bacon and Lego.

So what do your parents think of metal music Mikkel, what support do you get from your family / friends?

     "My parents aren't into music, actually my mum really hates music so she's like if there's any kind of music... when I grew up she was like 'can you f*cking just turn that off!'. My dad is really into jazz and stuff, but really doesn't like heavier music so yeah I didn't get anything from them heh.

     The way we built this band it's just Maja and I doing everything ourselves without any support from anyone else and that's how we started, I think the first album has quite an isolated sound as well and that's just because we were like 'we can do this'. We just do everything ourselves, so we recorded it and mixed it, shot our own videos and everything. I think that it worked out really well"


Having just finished your set, opening the main stage at Bloodstock, what plans have you got for the rest of the year?

     "We're playing Sabaton Open Air next week [was 19th August], then we're going back to the studio to just record and write, so that's the plan for the rest of the year and then hopefully the album will be out early next year and we'll start touring a lot. We've been on some amazing tours at the end of last year and at the start of this year with Lacuna Coil and Children of Bodom, so hopefully we'll get some great support for us and then do a headline tour as well"


Aside from the core Scandinavian countries, would you play in the Faroe Islands? What do you know about the metal scene there?

     "Yeah I would love to, they've got the G! Festival up there, I would love to play that and I would love to see the nature up there. My best friend is from the Faroe Islands, so yeah, we'd love it.

     I don't know a lot about the music from up there actually, they've got all these strange names as well because they call themselves something from their own language [Faroese]"


Finally do you have any greetings, thank you's that you wish to send out?

     "Yeah I would just love to thank Bloodstock for letting us play this festival, it's been amazing!"

'Tied Down' is out now via Nuclear Blast.

http://foreverstill.dk/
https://www.facebook.com/Foreverstill/

Truth be told, Israel is one of the more active metal scenes in the Middle East (let's not get political here) alongside the likes of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, the Gulf States (Bahrain and Kuwait; Qatar less so) and to a certain extent The Lebanon.

Salem, Orphaned Land, Arallu, Melechesh, they've all graced and kissed the golden sands of this Mediterranean nation, the latest to walk in their footsteps are Nothing Lies Beyond. A Melodic Death Metal force with enough ferocity about them to challenge the already-overloaded Swedish (nay Gothenburg) Metal scene.

So what makes this Israeli outfit an exciting one to watch? Well let's find out.

Guys in recent years the Israeli Metal scene has been flourishing and breaking international ground, what would you put this success to?


          "Hey! I think that the reason that the Israeli metal scene is flourishing in the past 3-4 years and actually getting some recognition on the global ground is because there are more interest from the local bands to break into the global scene.

          It's not something new of course, every band wants to get as much attention as possible, especially I think if you are living outside of the main music areas like the US and Europe, but the thing that helped us in the past years is mainly in my opinion, the whole digital era. There are more ways to bring your music to other people then there were before, when you needed in the past to send physical CD's or cassettes, now you can send a digital version of the album and of course the whole Facebook and YouTube platform.

          So to summarize it, I think that because of the digital platforms, many Israeli bands and also as I said, bands that are not from the US or EU, can now reach new exposure levels.


Would it be right to say that metal music offers Israeli's a means of expressing discontent during dangerous times? E.g. war, attacks, etc. But also can metal music bring the world together regardless of social, political and religious differences?


        "Well, you can say that the music that we make gives us a way to get our words out, about politics or any other difficulty that we face in our country.

          But I can say the same thing about any kind of music from any part of the world. Music gives us a way to express our feelings and thoughts, no matter what separates us – religious, social status, political differences.. We can hear the music that somebody else created and just enjoy.

          I don't know if metal music in specific, or any music for that matter can "bring the world together", but I'm sure that nobody would pay any attention to the artist's nation, religion, etc.. if the actual music is good for the listener.


Your debut album 'Fragile Reality' came out 22nd July, could you give us the background behind it and what your messages are?


        "The album's main topic is the struggles that we have to face in our life, I think that "Closed In Chains" and also "Lost" are the songs with the lyrics that pronounce the idea behind "Fragile Reality" in the best way. We tried to present our music in the best way, and I think that the outcome was perfect."


How supportive is Israeli society of metal music, does the Government know about it? How hard is it for metal music to exist in the Middle East?


          "I can say only our opinion about the whole Israeli's music preferences so maybe some people will think differently about the whole situation..

          In my opinion, metal music is not so "big" in Israel, there were times that the crowd in shows was bigger and there were more local bands, but I think that it depends on the whole environment and "musical era" of the specific time..

          Nowadays, people connect more to pop or electronic music because it's catchy, and in our country specific also for Middle Eastern style (not my cup of tea to be honest), so I do think that maybe in the 90's, the connection to metal music and the whole genres that it includes was bigger.

          I think that metal music could exist in any place, as long as people keep listen to it. Maybe in some countries in the Middle East it's "forbidden" or something like that, but in Israel we can play as much as we want and whatever we want to play."

Spanish Modern Melodic Death Metal outfit SynlakrosS have been rampaging around the block since 2008 and since then have released one demo and two albums, the second "Death Bullets For A Forajido" dropped back in May. With their sharp rise in the Spanish Metal scene and the line-up only changing the one time, things are looking bright for this hot property.

Check out their music video "Curly Wolves" below.

We aimed to keep the band cornered but as they ran and hid, the band's front-woman Patricia Pons was more than happy to seek the members up and bind them together, whilst she directed her answers to our questions.

Gone In April started in 2011 through their debut album "We Are But Human", culminating in the band playing across North America and Asia; the latter seeing this group co-headline 'The Great Indian Octoberfest' held in Bangalore. They also headlined the WaveTransform Festival 2014 (North America), as well as other events in the USA.

Following Gone In April's second album "Threads Of Existence" which saw new members joining from the USA and Canada, and another appearance at the WaveTransform Festival, GMA decided it was time to collar this group and excavate the facts behind this multinational facade.
 
So we bound Julie to a chair in a leather catsuit and placed Yanic in confinement, at least that way they could not escape... mind we did not give Julie the catsuit in the first place... another story for another time. Read below to see how it went.

It's not uncommon for a metal band to fall into a sub-genre that is totally unique, not only in terms of lyrical content or sound, but by the sub-genre name itself. So when Finland's Whispered announced details for their forthcoming album "Metsutan - Songs Of The Void", the slight-head turn became imminent after the first word. Why is a Finnish Metal band using a Japanese word in their album title? Turns out they're a 'Samurai Metal' band, well musically they're Melodic Death / Power Metal tinged with Eastern 'Oriental' Folk music influences, but we prefer the new genre tag as a way to describe them.

They might be fashioning blades, experts at martial arts, or masters at kanji calligraphy, but they're not resistant to our interrogation methods. Sadly no sake came between us or the band....

Vocalist / guitarist Jouni Valjakka and guitarist Mikko Mattila entered the interrogation chamber.

Eluveitie, one of Switzerland's most successful metal exports have this year released their sixth album 'Origins' to sensational appraise, as well as reaching #1 in the Swiss album and the U.S. Heatseekers Albums charts.

GMA therefore felt it was about time we sat down and spoke to Chrigel Glanzmann,  frontman and founder of the Swiss Celtic / Melodic Death metal band. We spoke about the album, the Swiss Metal scene, how metal is become more and more appreciated, Chrigel's past bands Branâ Keternâ and Môr Cylch, and how a little help from outside the metal world goes a very long way.

By Rhys Stevenson

Hi Chrigel, as Eluveitie's sixth album 'Origins' was released 1st August 2014, could you give a brief background behind each one of the songs?


The conceptional topic of the album is Celtic mythology, aetiological tales to be more precise - the origin myths of the Gauls.

• "The Nameless" deals with the mysterious deity the Gauls claimed to be descendants of.
• "Celtos" narrates one of the curving stories about the Celts primal father.
  
• "From Darkness" deals with a druidical theory, a Celtic tradition.
  
• "Virunus" tells the foundation legend of an important Gaulish city.
  
• "The Call Of The Mountains" tells about the story of how the central European Celts (especially the Helvetians) found their final homeland.
  

• "Sucellos" deals with the Gaulish god Sucellos.
  
• "Inception" deals with another druidical teaching.
  
• "Vianna" tells another aetiological foundation legend (of an important Celtic city).
  
• "The Silver Sister" deals with a Celtic tradition linked to the "nameless god" (the song "The Nameless" is also dealing with).
  

• "King" tells about a legendary Gaulish king.
  
• "The Day Of Strife" tells another version of the story about the Celts primal father.
  
• "Carry The Torch" picks up where "King" ended - and tells about the beginning of a glorious time of the Gauls (where many cities were founded and new lands settled).

Regarding the album cover which depicts the club-shaped halo of Sucellos, what made you decide in choosing this particular god and does it relate to the album title?


Yes it does. Well, as mentioned above, “Origins” deals in-depth with Celtic mythology and spirituality. From the moment the basic idea for the album was born, it was clear to us that we wanted a very simple, maybe a little abstract and mystical album artwork. We wanted something emblematic, something that represents and expresses the lyrical content of the album symbolically. Yet it wasn't very easy to find something like that. I mean, if “Origins” was a concept album about the Catholic religion, for instance, when we could have pictured a crucifix on the cover, haha. Would have been easy. But in Celtic culture? There no such symbol which kinda stands for “Celtic mythology” or so.

I searched intensely and worked together with the University of Zurich (where I'm friends with a professor who's specialised on Celtic culture and arts). In the end it all came back to the Celtic god Sucellos. The album's dealing with aetiological tales from ancient Gaul, and in those mythological subjects Sucellos appears over and over again (even though often only in scientific theses, since divine names were not written down by the Celts – it all remains pretty mysterious). 
Several Sucellos statues have been found in archaeological excavations. In one of them Sucellos is depicted with kind of a “halo” - some kind of a sun-shaped half-wheel, which consists of several mallets (such as the one he usually hold in his hand).


You had Alexander Morton guest as narrator for "Origins" and "Eternity", how did this come about and what was it like working with him?

It's always amazing to work with him. Love that dude! I got to know him during the production of our last album "Helvetios" (where he also did some narrations). I was looking for a suitable narrator who is able to transport and express the right atmosphere and emotion. One day I accidentally came across the movie "Valhalla Rising" where Alexander plays the role of a shaman. The moment I heard him talking in that movie, I knew that I've found the voice I've been looking for!

'Origins' reached #1 on the Swiss Album and US heatseekers album charts, as well as reaching the top ten on the German album and UK Independent Albums Breaker charts. What was your reaction to this and do you feel metal music is steadily gaining more mainstream appreciation?

Of course we're super happy and thankful for that! I think every style of music experiences has its ups and downs if it comes to popularity. Metal music is doing quite well at the moment, I think. At least there are less mutual reservations from the "mainstream audience" than 20 years ago. ;) 




Could you give us a brief history of your adjacent bands Branâ Keternâ and Môr Cylch (if both are still active)?

Both bands are not active anymore. I've been playing metal music for quite a while now. My first Death Metal band (called Sacer) was formed by myself in 1991. But I also played traditional Celtic Folk Music for many years. Môr Cylch was a traditional Irish music band I formed around 2000 or so.
Actually it was originally a kind of an attempt to form a band like Eluveitie, but it ended up becoming a purely acoustic, traditional folk band, haha.

Brana Keterna was also a folk band I formed about half a year before I formed Eluveitie. Three Eluveitie members also played in that band (Linda Suter, ex-Eluveitie; Meri Tadic, ex-Eluveitie and Päde Kistler). It was just some kind of a fun project. You know, to just play music without any (stylistic) limitations. It partly sounded pretty crazy, haha. The band never officially broke up, but it has not been for years now. But maybe we'll do something with Brana again one day. Päde and myself talk about writing and recording some new Brana songs now and then. Would be fun!


Because Eluveitie's lyrics are generally in English and sometimes Gaulish, how do you go about constructing the lyrics? From the planning to the recording stage.

Well, Eluveitie's lyrics are basically in English. Some of our songs I write are in Gaulish (probably 1 or 2 songs per album). But the use of the Gaulish language is rather a form of "artistic work" to me. It's more about giving the narration of history some more "flesh and blood". If it comes to the Gaulish language I always work together with diverse scientists - regarding the translations / reconstructions to the pronunciations.

Check out Eluveitie's new music video "King" which is taken from their latest album "Origins" below.

When not working or with Eluveitie, what do you do to pass the time? Sports? Traveling?

Honestly, there virtually is no time when I'm not working for Eluveitie. Eluveite is a 150% job! If I do have some spare time (which literally only happens every couple of months), I like to cook (haute cuisine) for instance. :) Most of us do sports / work out, but that's mostly an on-tour-activity and it's basically about staying fit and in shape. I mean, you're not getting younger, haha!


Focusing on the Swiss Metal scene as a whole, how well-appreciated is the music there? Are there any new bands fans should check out?

Eluveitie is well appreciated in the Swiss Metal scene! Of course there's this kind of "super true" underground part of the scene (usually kinda black metal-ish), which hates us for being internationally successful. But I think that's just a normal phenomenon you can observe in every country's metal scene. ;) And yes, there's a lot of really amazing metal bands in Switzerland! I'd name Blutmond, for instance (a very original avant garde black metal band including a Saxaphonist)! Anna sometimes does guest vocals for this band. They're definitely worth checking out!




As Eluveitie cover Celtic / Helvetian history and folklore, do you personally feel Eluveitie's music could be a good education tool for students studying Celtic Studies per se?

Haha, I don't know. Honestly, I think our albums can be an introduction to the subject and they partly also contain interesting stuff for people conversant and experienced with Celtic history. But if you really want to deal intensely with this matter, then go to university or at least an academic library! ;) But speaking of that, a year ago I was invited by the University of Zurich to lecture during a lecture series on the Gallic wars. It was pretty cool! :)


What plans does Eluveitie have for the rest of 2014 and into 2015?

Well, last month the "Origins World Tour" just kicked off with 30 shows in North America. October till Christmas we'll be touring Europe (including the UK). After that we'll have a break for a few weeks and then the touring will go on (South America, Eastern and Northern Europe and Russia, Asia, Australia and South Africa). The Origins World Tour will presumably keep us on the road for the next two years. 



Personally speaking do you feel that Folk Metal, in specific Celtic Metal, is not greatly represented as it could be?

To be really honest - I don't know. We just do our thing, we play the music we want to play and we never really cared about if it's called Folk Metal or whatever. We hardly ever look at what's going on around us. In that sense we don't have much of a clue about the whole Folk Metal genre, honestly.


Finally are there any hello's and thank you's you wish to send out to fans, friends, etc?

Well, for me it simply remains to say "thank you!" for this interview and thanks a lot to all the readers for their interest in Eluveitie! See you on the road! We'll play in:

• London - 11th November
  
• Manchester - 12th November
• Glasgow - 13th November
• Belfast - 14th November
  
• Dublin - 15th November
  
• Bristol - 16th November
  

https://www.facebook.com/eluveitie
http://eluveitie.ch/

Band: Sinmattic
Country: Portugal
Genre: Melodic Gothic Metal
Label: Unsigned / Independent

It's been a year since Portugal's Sinmattic first released their debut self-titled EP, recently the Melodic Gothic Metal outfit has been upping their game in order to expand outside of their native Portugal through a number of endeavors, including the possibility of linking up with a Gothic Metal band from The Netherlands. GMA found some time to sit down with Ivo Durães and Pedro Antunes from Sinmattic and discuss what they have done and what they plan to do, furthermore a discussion about the Portuguese Metal scene, it's economic situation and other related questions circulating Portugal and Sinmattic.


So guys coming from Portugal, what is the metal scene like and what problems have there been?

Pedro: Unfortunately, Metal is not very marketable in Portugal, this is a very small country which makes the Metal scene even smaller and very underground. Metal songs very seldom reach the top here, unlike other types of music. This makes it even harder for us to live out of our music, and we have to try our best to reach other countries and make our music more known outside our country.

Ivo: It's so underground that I still have dirt in my mouth since the last gig! No seriously… the Metal scene here is small, it's easy to know almost everyone from every other band! But I tell you this, it may be small but there is a lot, and I mean a LOT of quality around here! There are great bands achieving great things! The main problems we face are to do with the lack of support from radios and other Media sources, and the practical inexistence of a circuit for Metal bands to play around the country… most of the clubs hire cover bands! This may be good for them but for bands that play only original material its complicated.



Now since the onset of Portugal switching from the Escudo to the Euro, how has this impacted on the band in general and your daily lives? Is equipment cheaper or more expensive?

Pedro: Like most of Europe, we've been going through an enormous economical crisis, so it ends up affecting our lives because there's less funding and support for whatever you want to do, not just music.

Ivo: Our band is relatively new so I can't say much about that. I had my real first electric guitar offered to me by my mom and brother around the end of 2007, a brand new Ibanez and because of that it was a tad more costly than a second hand instrument… but that’s the thing, no matter the currency, instruments can be bought for fair prices if you know where to find them.



How did the band name come about and where there any other potential names for the band?

Pedro: I remember a lot of names for the band before “Sinmattic” showed up on our minds, but let's not go there :P

Ivo: I’m going ahead and saying that we had some really silly names before we settled with Sinmattic! But like Pedro, I won't reveal them… for now. But we wanted something unique, something that you don’t find in like 500 results when you Google it! We had a pretty big brainstorm, thinking about art on all of its forms… came up with “cinema” and after some more brainstorming… “SINMATTIC”! And yeah, we are still very happy with the name.



Individually how did you get into metal music, playing Gothic Metal and who do you take your influences from?

Pedro: Personally I discovered Metal in my adolescent years, and exploring that led me to bands like Nightwish, Epica, and other Symphonic Metal bands. It was because of them that I decided to learn the piano and start writing my own songs. So I went to music schools, learned and started working on my own ideas. Sinmattic came after other projects that didn't work that well. Nowadays I take influences from various styles of music, not just Metal, because you should listen to many artists and inspire yourself with as many genres as you can to keep it versatile and interesting enough in your own band. The rest of the inspiration will come from the events that surround you, and your own personal experiences.

Ivo: I have to blame my brother for listening to Metallica, AC/DC, Sepultura, Manowar, etc. when I was just a little kid! At that time I never really liked it, I was more concerned about playing football with my friends… but then something happened! My parents offered me an acoustic guitar (which I still have and still sounds cool) and I started learning by myself, watching Metallica live shows, DVDs and such! But I had help from my father, he was a guitarist too… he introduced me to other great bands like Deep Purple, Dire Straits, Ten Years After, Led Zeppelin, etc! All the legends of the electric guitar and that was the real trigger for me! After a while, like some natural law, I found myself listening, enjoying and playing Metal. But I was always more into Thrash metal, the Gothic taste came when I started playing with these guys.


After playing a gig or tour, how do you all take 'chill time', how do you relax?

Pedro: I try to rest as much as I can, get a good night's sleep and keep my energies balanced for the next day.

Ivo: Resting is always a good option, I like watching movies and hanging around with my lady, we do a lot of stuff together. I also enjoy gaming when I can, I must confess I am bit of a geek!


What is the Portuguese metal scene like in terms of what festivals are there, venues, labels, media, etc?

Ivo: There are a few good Metal festivals, some are building their name up outside of Portugal which is good, it makes people come from other countries! Vagos Open Air is a good example. About venues, that’s more complicated… like I said earlier in this interview, most of them prefer to hire cover bands or bands from other styles of music, leaving Metal bands with only a few places to show their work. Labels? I only know two relevant labels that represent some Metal bands… about Media, there are some cool webzines that support the scene and spread the word! And we also have a national metal magazine, but their support for local / national bands is still very weak.


For those who do not know Sinmattic, what song should they check out and why? What is the meaning behind the song?

Ivo: I recommend listening to our EP. It's four songs only but each one very different from the other… that’s SINMATTIC! We can sound melodic and mellow, but at the same time we have that heavy and furious part that in my opinion makes us stand out.


Now Portugal of course is renowned for it's red wine, what else is Portugal popular for (besides football and wine)? What wine would you each recommend?

Pedro: Well, I know Portugal is also famous for its typical food, so I'd suggest coming here and trying some of our good restaurants and meals.

Ivo: Cant tell you much about wine, there are a lot of brands… lets stick with beer! Only two major brands and both good, these are Super Bock and Sagres respectively! Portugal is more than food, wine and football. Our landscape is beautiful, our weather is nice, lots of beautiful monuments, old castles and palaces, rich culture… oh and Port wine is very famous but our red wine its also famous, Madeira wine is also famous as when the American declaration of Independence act was signed, the signers celebrated by drinking Madeira wine. They didn't sign it WITH wine, hahaha.


Are the youth of today encouraged to learn an instrument or is purely voluntary? How do most bands organize local gigs?

Pedro: I think there are still many parents who encourage their children to learn music or play an instrument, but it depends on their own ideas and experiences. There are also many cases where it's voluntary and children ask their parents about playing an instrument, especially in their adolescent years. It also depends, though, since it's not easy to be successful only by playing music.

Ivo: Pedro said it all but I’ll just add that with so many great musicians to get inspiration from I think its easy to encourage the youngsters to learn an instrument and become good at it! About local gigs, the main concern is to get a venue / club. Then it's just a matter of talking to bands, deciding which dates are the best, cash values and such. Of course, this happens on a good day.


Individually, sum up what Sinmattic's live performances are like and who have you played with / looking forward to play with or want to play with?

Pedro: I think we have a lot of energy and great interaction with our audience. We love playing on stage and it shows, because even when we had a bad day our bad energies disappear completely once we set foot on stage and start playing our songs. It's all about the show and enjoying music.


What are the band's plans for the rest of 2013? Any New Years gigs? Partying?

Pedro: Right now we are working on some new songs and trying to achieve the right conditions to record our debut album. The plan is also to keep playing live and taking our music to as many people as possible. If the opportunity comes, we might do a New Year's Concert, who knows?


Finally are there any thank you's and greeting's you wish to express to friends, fans, family, etc?

Pedro: We are very grateful to every person who supports us in any way – a like on Facebook, a share, a supportive comment or even a listen. Also, everyone who shows up at our gigs and supports our shows. Those have been the people who give us energy and will to keep fighting for our music and try to do a better job every day.

Ivo: Every kind of support counts, no matter what people say about us! a simple like on our page may trigger other ones and that may lead to more listeners. I wish to thank every single person who supports and keeps supporting us everyday! And of course, thank you Rhys for your kindness and support!


Sinmattic's debut self-titled EP is out now via the band themselves

https://www.facebook.com/Sinmattic
http://www.youtube.com/user/SinmatticOfficial
http://www.reverbnation.com/sinmattic

Global Metal Apocalypse caught up with Eluveitie frontman Chrigel Glanzmann and spoke about what Eluveitie have been upto, the band's past, current affairs in general and what the band plans on doing in 2012 and beyond. Interview is below.

Last year Global Metal Apocalypse caught up with Alestorm and in particular frontman Christopher Bowes, we just found it in the archives and we now present it to the public, interview is below.

Global Metal Apocalypse caught up with the new face of Spanish Melodic Death Metal, namely quartet Morphing Into Primal, check out the interview below!

How long has the band been going and who came up with the band name, what does it mean?

Jose D:  Well, I think that I must respond to that question. Previously Chus, Luis M and I were members of another band called Incission, this band split up and we started over with a new band, new name, etc. I understand the words of “Morphing Into Primal” in the sense of turning back at the start. I was influenced by Whoracle’s song by In Flames and the situation we were passing through in that moment and my colleague approved the idea. Morphing Into Primal has been active since 2010.

In Spain, do people prefer to be known as Spanish or by their regional nationality such as Catalan, Basque etc?

Arturo:  It depends, we consider ourselves a Spanish band, but some people prefer to be known by their regional nationality. Truely, it's not so important for us.

Which bands are the most famous in the Spanish Metal scene?

Arturo: There are a lot of great bands in Spain, in the death metal scene the most long-lived bands are maybe Avulsed, Haemorrhage and Machetazo.  

You sing in Spanish, to branch out into further fields such as continental Europe, would you be changing to sing in English or both languages?

Arturo: We prefer to sing in Spanish because for us it's easy to express our feelings in our own language but we don´t discard English, in fact we have a song in the album called ``It´s time´´ written in English because it fits better with the music. In future, we will continue singing in Spanish but maybe with some other songs in English. 

What would you say is your band’s main topic regarding lyrics and for those who aren’t lingual in Spanish, could you give some song titles you have done and explain what they mean?

Arturo: Ok, our lyrics talk about some different thoughts such as self-destruction in 'Rompiendo el tiempo', drugs in 'it´s Time', destruction of the Earth in 'Madre tierra' or anti-religion in 'Renuncio a la fe'. 

Who designed your album artwork for ‘Principios de Autodestrucción’ and is this your only album?

Arturo:Yes, Principios de Autodestrucción is our first and only album. We worked with Moon Rising Design who creates designs for covers, inlays, etc. We saw their designs and thought it will fit great with our music and lyrics. The design was perfect for our cover idea.

Jose D: Luis M. did a good job for the artwork too. He was responsible for personalizing the artwork with band pictures and symbols.

How did you guys meet and when exactly did you realise you wanted to start a Metal band?

Jose D: Luis M. and I are brothers and as i have said before, we met Chus in Incission. We wanted to continue playing together when Incission broke up and we formed 'Morphing Into Primal'. For a little time Morphing Into Primal was 3 members, Arturo was a friend of the band and we told him if he would like to be our second guitarist.

Do you or have you played in any other bands and/or have any side projects?

Jose D: All of us have been playing in other bands, for example Arturo played in a Black Metal band 'Byleth', Luis M. was a member in another band called 'Kondena', a Thrash / death metal band; Kondena recorded their last album in Sweden with Andy LaRocque before splitting-up. Chus has more experience playing with other bands like 'Haeresian', 'Halcon', 'Sinestesia', Chus and me used to play together in a Southern Metal band called 'Shot To Head'. I also played in 'Incission' with Chus and Luis M. and currently I am playing in 'N.A'.

What advice do you have for musicians who want to sing in Death Metal style?

Jose D: Death Metal style must be sung with the soul, in general, every metal style must be sung with the heart. Technically, the death metal genre is not noise like so many people think. Step to step, I have learned to equalize my voice, not force the throat and see and listen how to sing the famous vocals. If you refer to all instruments, I suppose It's a similar form, seeing and listening to the professional drummers, bassists and guitarists, but always with your own sign. It needs to make sense, have dedication and feeling but always must be fun to do.

RHYS STEVENSON

So I caught up with the bad boys Fall To Oblivion from the unpredictable town of Stamford-Le-Hope, they won the 5th heat of the Rayleigh Battle of the Bands, so I spoke to them about whats going on - especially their latest release. Audio below.

http://www.facebook.com/falltooblivion