Now that we are settled down in the New Year, it’s time we revisit some filth from years past with Esanguinate’s nasty debut album, Eldritch Anatomy. Not for the faint of heart, this release hits almost as hard as a steaming cup of our Kaffe Storm.
When the record starts, Esanguinate rockets out of the grave. The band leaves not a moment to waste.Starting out you will instantly notice some old school Death Metal sounds and feels that resemble Massacre and Morbid Angel. It has an old school feel but the band adds another layer of murkiness that elevates the atmosphere. Esanguinate songs here mostly draw upon a dark occult theme. The band does a great job including just the right of tremolo picking to drive that feeling home. Not quite Black Metal here but just enough to bring in the right amount of darkness.
There is a ton to like here. For the most part Esanguinate has a mixed bag tunes here. Some tracks come in hard and thrashy perfectly rattling your spine. Others slow down, taking more of a Doom feeling atmospheric approach. Vocalist Andrej Čuk does an incredible job here switching his sound from style to style. Plenty of killer thrash and Death Metal riffs to keep your inner head banger happy. There is enough variety here that this album was made for repeat listens. It would really be interesting to see how the band handles performing these songs alive.
For a debut band this is one hell of a solid release. This will be one to watch.
Alright. Here’s a new Metal genre for y’all. Culinary Metal.
This is one of those few albums that come out and every now and then that really surprise you. The album cover instantly grabbed my attention with its morbid and cartoonish style. I had never heard any mention of this Death Metal/Grind band before this review. I wasn’t too sure as what to expect. Quickly reading the song titles, “Aborted Eggs Benedict,” “Rancid Risotto,” and “Heinous Hassenpfeffer,” I knew I was in for something truly different and fun.
A La Carte’s debut full length is equally impressive in both terms of music technicality and heaping servings of darkened humor. After working in a kitchen as a young Metalhead, I can really appreciate the band’s theme, morbid songs about preparing and serving food. To top things and come full circle the band performs their live shows wearing maitre d’ outfits. Just when you thought you’ve seen and heard it all in Metal.
Most “gimmick” bands spend too much time on the gimmick and not enough time on the music itself. A La Carte satisfyingly serve up some good tunes. I actually thought this might have been a side project for some more seasoned scene musicians! The band does a great job mixing in elements of Grindcore, Technical and Brutal Metal into some face melting music. One moment they are playing a soft Castlevania feeling melody and the next they are bringing a savage beatdown on your senses.
This a solid album that has no business being this good. If I was still working in the kitchen, these tunes would be blasting on my prep station. I only wish I had heard this album earlier as it totally would have made it into my top release list for 2022.
Thlurm bills itself as, “Metal Punk from the dungeons of Indiana,” which is quite an accurate description for their contribution to this month’s subscription. “The Thlurm Must Die and Dungeon Scum,” is part of Wise BloodRecords demo series that highlights up and coming and promising new artists. This recording, combining 2 separate demos is raw and punk as fuck, covered in chunky layers of pure filth.
” Instantly you hear influences of Toxic Holocaust and Midnight and like those bands, Thlurm is a solo product brought to you by Austin Sipes. Thlurm though has a much more punk and grind approach to their style. Songs come in fast and filthy with a certain unpolished charm that is comparable to early Napalm Death. This recording reeks of the lo-fi production of the the mid to late 80’s.
The vocals are sick, the guitars have more of a punk then metal feel and the while the drumming does not include any blast beats, the first demo, “The Thlum Must Die,” is some killer Grindcore. “Disease,” is punk rock kick to the jaw and the following track, “Imaginary Hell,” is a straight up banger that reminds me of Ghoul.
The second demo, “Dungeon Scum,” is much more raw in sound than the first. This half shows more of a Black Metal influence which can be felt the most on “Serpent Master.” “Illusions of Chaos,” and “Human Waste,” even slow things down a bit with even adds more of a haunting vocal feel.
For a demo release, Thlurm are already a band to watch.
If you haven’t been hip to Hell Night yet, now is the time to correct that mistake. The band had several 7’s and singles throughout their career and released their first full length in 2019, “Unlimited Destruction.” The title fits perfectly as this recording is full of enough hard hitting guitars, pummeling drums and vicious vocals to level a city. Brian Fair replaced original vocalist Mike Craft for “Unlimited Destruction,” taking the sound further with even more fury than before.
Hell Night have a hardcore/metal/punk approach filled with pure aggression that comes in part from Andy White’s brutal and murky guitar work that perfectly compliments Brian Fair’s pissed off vocals. While their exact genre of music is difficult to pinpoint, their ability to write killer riffs and songs that may a mosh pit to break out in your living room is without question.
For even more details regarding this album check out our recent interview with Brian Fair.
For the last couple of years, Night Demon have kept the traditional Heavy Metal flag flying high with their incredible and distinct retro inspired style. “Darkness Remains ” was released back in 2017 and if you haven’t gotten into this power trio from California yet, this album will serve as a perfect introduction to the band. If you are a fan of the more classic years of Metal with Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Diamond Head, you will find much to bang your head to on “Darkness Remains.”
In the last 10 years or so there have been plenty of bands that perform classic styles of Heavy Metal, Thrash or Death Metal. So many that we may need yet another Metal genre (Retro Metal?) Night Demon, however, may be the absolute best when it comes to capturing the feel. Songs like “Black Widow,” and “Life on the Run,” will have you feel like you just stepped out of a DeLorean into 1985.
This feeling comes from Night Demon’s incredible song writing. There are tons of killer riffs and melodies that will get your head banging and memorable choruses that are guaranteed to get stuck in your head. There is plenty to love here from the technical guitar work to the vocals that blend in perfectly to each song. If you are looking to give your ears a break from extreme metal but still listen to something that is gonna kick your ass, give this one a spin.
Hell Night’s album, “Unlimited Destruction,” is part of April’s subscription bundle. This is a brutal and killer record that we are excited to share with you. Lead singer Brian Fair, whom you may also recoconze from Shadows Fall, took a few moments out of his busy schedule to chat with us about Hell Night, Shadow Fall’s reunion shows and raising the next generation of Metalheads.
Trve Kvlt Coffee: I understand you’ve been pretty busy lately, you were saying that you were moving offices?
Brian Fair: Yeah. We’ve been home for 2 years. It started because of the pandemic and then we had a giant flood from a water main, they just kept pushing it, pushing it and pushing it to the point I was like, “Man, I set some roots at home. I’m not ready to move. “(laughs) It was getting pretty comfortable working from home but we start full time Monday.
TKC: I don’t think my wife ever wants to go back to the office. She’s been working at home since the pandemic.
BF: I’m with her. I don’t wanna go back. I can get snacks out of my own refrigerator, and little things like running the laundry while I’m working. Where am I gonna find the time now?
TKC: Do you find yourself working longer when you work from home then you would at the office?
BF: I’ll pop in if I have to take care of something real quick, it’s great to have that access. Say something comes in after hours but I just wanna get it done, I would do that where there is no option at the office. Yeah I go in a little earlier, make some coffee and start working.
TKC: You’ve been a part of several bands throughout the years and in our subscriptions this month we are featuring Hell Night. How did you land that gig?
BF: It was kind of funny. When I first moved to St. Louis, where my wife is originally from, was right when Shadows Fall was still touring for the first couple of years I lived here but we were definitely winding down. I wasn’t really looking to do anything musically for at least a little while , ya know? Just after 20 years on the road with those guys. But then one of the first bands I saw was Hell Night with their original singer, Mike Craft who was a good friend of my wife. So I went and saw them and they were this mix of like Black Flag down tuned crazy sludginess with Melvins mixed and all of this shit happening. It’s not what I was expecting, I was blown away. These guys are amazing! Mike was talking to me, “I don’t have the time to commit to a band these days,” He just decided not to do it anymore. I was skateboarding with our guitar player Andy and he was like, “You wanna come down and jam?” I was like, “Dude I already know the first EP and a few other tunes, I’m in.” So we jammed and honestly started writing music right away. And that’s what really solidified it. It’s totally different from what I’ve been doing for a long time and we were already making material together that just felt right.
TKC: Speaking of writing music, is your approach to writing music for Hell Night similar to Shadows Fall or something entirely different?
BF: Totally different. In Shadows Fall there was a lot of technicalities to the song writing as well as the riffs. Those guys would have a pretty solid riff map when they were putting songs together. They would tweak overtime with myself bringing in some vocal lines may change a thing here or there. There was a very long process of getting it all super tight, getting everything together. Hell Night we come up with some ideas in th practice space and we try to map out a song. I’m usually writing while we are jamming on it. It may take a practice or 2 to nail it down and then we try to record it super early. We do things the exact opposite where before the original inspiration is gone we get in the studio and just lay it down. We weren’t able to do as much pandemic wise but we were writing a crazy clip before that in almost every other practice we had a new tune. We are also at the point we play that live the new stuff is always going to be a part of the set list. That’s probably what excites us the most is getting together and writing new tunes, coming up with new ideas.
TKC: “Unlimited Destruction,” is a killer album, it hits just right. How has the response been so far?
BF:It’s been good. It’s a fairly limited release , we did it with a local label here. We weren’t really able to tour on it but locally the shows have always been killer whenever we play, real good support from the local music scene. Anyone who has gotten their hands on it or checked it out has been digging it. Sonically it not only falls in between a lot of genres and has a lot of angles that people get into, it doesn’t sound production wise like what happens in heavy music right now. I think it’s got kinda of a different sound. A lot of it is due to Andy’s guitar tone and Doom/Sludge thing that sounds more like a keyboard that is being attacked by a shark than a guitar. I think that really adds this weird element to it. We had a bunch of different EPs and songs here and to get them together on vinyl, I’m stoked to have that together in one spot finally.
TKC: That’s awesome to hear. Personally, I love the cover to the album. Godzilla is my son’s hero. We’ve watched several Godzilla movies several times. Where did the album cover come from?
BF: My son is currently obsessed with Godzilla and we have been on such a Godzilla kick over here. Really titans in general, he’s a big King Ghidorra fan, with some of the toys and we’ve been watching a lot of the movies. Artwork wise, we wanted something that captured that unrelenting force of destruction and there’s not many things better than Godzilla. So it’s a mix of a car crash, Godzilla and some other flaming things. The artist who did it created an original piece from scratch, which was important to us. It can be easy to photoshop a bunch of different images together but to have an original illustration made it a little cooler.
TKC: I feel with the title, “Unlimited Destruction,” you have to have Godzilla! Now that Covid restrictions have loosened, any Hell Night shows planned in the future?
BF: We are just getting back to practicing regularly again, once we get our sea legs back, we’ll book some shows around here. We haven’t been able to travel much, we really only play the St.Louis area but we’d love to go down the road do the long weekend stuff and hit maybe Chicago and places around here. Probably won’t be touring anytime soon unfortunately but hopefully we get some shows soon. For us, everyone has full time jobs, kids and stuff. It’s a little hectic to really travel. Honestly, I’ve done that for a couple decades between Overcast and Shadows Fall. I love being on the road but the longer you’ve been away, the harder it is to imagine doing it full time again, you know? The idea of getting into a bus or van for 8 weeks….I don’t know if I’m ready. (laughs)
TKC: Researching for this interview I stumbled upon your recent cover of Pantera’s “By Demons, Be Driven,” which was fucking awesome! How were you approached to be a part of that?
BF: Thank you man, that was a blast! Frank, who does Metal Injection, who also played drums on the track, hit me up. It was pretty quick too. “Hey man, I’m sorry this is so last minute, I think you’d be perfect,” I was like, “When do you need it,” This was on a Friday, he goes, “Sunday.” I had to dust off the home studio, it had totally been broken down and make sure all my software still worked. So it took a day to get set up and I tracked it on Saturday and did the video kind of through the next day. For the strobe lights part of the video, I literally took all of my kid’s bike safety lights and went into my weird tiled in shower that’s in my basement and just did the strobe lights with a bunch of kids safety lights. (laughs) Total DIY production! It came together super fast which was also good. I didn’t want to obsess over the vocals and try to get crazy with it. It came out sick. I was pretty stoked.
TK: If there is one good thing that came out of the pandemic, it would be the zoom concerts. Especially in the days where it seemed there was no end in sight. Especially seeing people jam together, who you may have never seen perform together before.
BF: Or bringing guys who would always talk about on the road, “Hey we should jam together!” But you never get the chance to. To actually do it virtually and to have some cool weird combos you wouldn’t expect, that was super entertaining. Like you said, it at least brought in some fresh music and things like that. If you couldn’t go see it, you’d at least see something you’d never get a chance to have. Hell Night was part of one of the Metal Injection streaming things when they did a full day festival and that was really cool. It gave a lot of bands a chance to at least show what they are up to and connect in a different way and feel like you are doing something. You’re getting some music and there and you’re connecting in some way. I think a lot of other people got to hunker down in the studio, there are probably so many newer original ideas and music coming out because people are like, “Well, I have nothing else to do but fire up the Pro Tools and see what happens.” At least a little silver lining there.
TK: Yeah that’s one thing to look forward to; the music that may be coming out now that bands are able to tour again. I know a lot of bands have been sitting on things, where they don’t want to release it if they can’t support it.
BF: Totally. That stuff gets planned out so far ahead that if you were dropping a record that March or April, aww man I can’t even imagine. You’ve been building up to this whole thing then all of a sudden it’s like you are not going to be able to tour for almost 2 years. That’s such a momentum killer. For a lot of bands the only real revenue source you have now is touring and merchandise while you’re touring. It’s not like record sales are what they used to be although it did force people to get creative with Twitch and covers and finding ways to generate revenue and connect in ways to keep the fires burning. I think that we bring out more ideas that will stick around.
TK: I also saw that you were part of the Headbanger’s Con a few years ago, what was that like?
BF: It was cool. Chris 51 who is a tattoo artist and a crazy Metalhead, he had done one of the early tattoo reality shows too, had the idea after doing all these tattoo conventions and was like, “There is no Heavy Metal one, there is a convention for everything else.” So he set it up similar to that. It was a blast man. Fans coming in getting to hang out, there was also some Q and A stuff and there were some shows that were played. The one thing I think if they would have been able to expand it, I think there would have been more jams, sort of all star bands. We just didn’t get a chance to pull that stuff off. Hopefully they can keep that going now that people can get back together in large groups again.
TK: I hope something like that show happens again and seems like a very unique experience for both the fan and the artist.
BF: Exactly. It was cool to see someone thinking outside the box and a bunch of companies and labels supporting it too, finding new ways for people to get together and celebrate Metal. I really hope it is something that Chris can keep rolling.
TK: At the end of last year you had your very successful Shadows Fall reunion show. How did that night go for you guys?
BF: It couldn’t have gone better. That venue (The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts) is our home away from home. The crew that put it on our people that have been in our circle for decades and decades, everyone has their families there, it was just a blast. The lineup was killer from top to bottom. It really couldn’t have gone any better. Now we have a couple festivals planned for September. That will probably be the way we do things, a couple festivals here and there each year if we can or maybe a long weekend type of thing. It’s just been a blast to just jam with those guys. There are even some ideas floating around maybe if we got some riffs. we’ll try and see if new music can happen naturally. It was just good to jam again. The fact that it all happened was crazy. We started the ball rolling before the pandemic and had to shelve everything and then when we finally got it together for December, all of a sudden Omicron was coming and things were getting shut down right before that. We didn’t think we were gonna make it to the finish line. Luckily we did. There was a little bit of Covid soup in there, I’m not gonna lie! Even at the time we were like, “Ehhhhh…..I don’t know if this is the best idea.” Luckily none of the band got sick, we didn’t hear anyone from the crowd of anything crazy happening, numbers spreading or anything like that. It was a nervous part there where we thought we were so in the clear for December at that point. The fact that it happened was the best part. I think it has been 6 years since we played.
TK: Glad to hear that all worked out. It is so easy to have a show canceled just like that. One crew member gets sick and that’s all it takes.
BF: Exactly and we were seeing that happen. By the end of December I had some tickets to some shows in New York City that I was going to fly in for around New Year’s and it all got shut down right before. Our show was the 18th, so it was barely right before it. It seems like touring is not totally getting back to normal but you’re seeing a lot less last minute cancellations at least. There have been a lot of shows coming to St.Louis lately and it;s been fun getting out and about. It does feel strange on the social aspect of it. I feel like Ricky Bobby. “What do I do with my hands?”
TK: I will tell you the fans are hungry for it. A lot of Metal shows in my area are selling out.
BF: It’s the same here. There was a 3 day run with Cannibal Corpse, The Circle Jerks and Dragonforce and this one venue and 2 shows sold out and one almost did and that was a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It goes to show you we are ready to party; let’s do this.
TK: You were saying you are doing a few festivals with Shadows Fall in September?
BF: Blueridge Music Fest in Virginia, it 4 days and 6 stages. Every single band in the world is playing. It’s huge. The lineup is a never ending scroll of awesome bands. The next one after that is Furnace Fest in Birmingham, Alabama. So happy to play shows. When you only have 2 it makes it special, each one you can focus and let it all rip.
TK: Going back to the Shadows Fall show, were your kids able to attend?
BF: Totally. They were there. They are super into music, they’ve seen the Youtube videos and all of that but it’s not the same. I’m really glad they got to see a big headlining show and be like, “See? I told you dad was cool!” They were right on the side of the stage and came up for a second. It was a blast. They had a great time.
TK: What do they think of having a “Metal Dad” and see dad perform and do his thing?
BF: They love it man! But they think it’s pretty normal though. It’s more weird when they kinda realize I guess everyone’s dad’s hair isn’t 5 feet long or when Slayer comes to town doesn’t go backstage. We took some friends of theirs to Dragonforce and they were like, “This is different!” I’m just psyched because they have been jamming on their own tunes and they are only like 5 and 8. We’ve been writing tunes and jamming a little bit ourselves. We’ll see. Keep the next generation rolling.
TK: I think that’s all I had for you today. Anything else that you would like to add?
BF: We are stoked to be part of the subscription for Hell Night. We appreciate spreading the word. Keep an eye out for Hell Night tunes. You can always follow us on all the social media stuff. Shadows Fall is playing a few shows here and there, I’m sure there will be more.
Deadyellow is a post Black Metal band from New Jersey who are just getting started and are already bringing the noise. Their debut self titled effort contains only 6 tracks but is meaty enough to satisfy any palate. The guitars are low and murky with some great riffs and solos amongst the tremolo picking. The vocals are a little less harsh than your typical Black Metal fare but blend in well with the rest of the band. Most of the music on this release runs on the slower to mid tempo side. Don’t let that worry you, there are still plenty of blast beats included here and the overall sound is still heavily rooted in Black Metal. Deadyellow’s tracks are multifaceted and include the use of pianos and clean vocals for a truly epic journey.
Karmanjaka and their metal as fuck unreadable band logo come to us from the land of great melodic metal, Sweden. That Swedish influence of melodic, rocking and catchy riffs can be felt throughout the entirety of this recording. Black Metal is often seen as the grimmest of the grim but this album has an almost, “fun” feel to it. Listen to the standout track, “Sorcerer King,” and judge for yourself. With its outstanding guitars and howling vocals it feels like a mix of classic era heavy metal and black metal. With such a melodic approach to their sound Karmanjaka have put together a very accessible black metal listen to many who may not be a fan of the genre. In addition, the production on this album is slick and crisp making it even easier to pass it on to your friend who still hasn’t given a black metal band a fair listen. The themes on this album are still bleak, evil and pagan, so purists should night be scared off by Karmanjaka’s diverse sound. Easily one of the more engrossing and energetic black metal album to come out in some time. Highly recommended!
We recently caught up with the amazing Athenar, the guitarist, bassist and drummer behind Cleveland’s sleaziest and trashiest one man band, Midnight. Athenar took some time from his morning routine to discuss his upcoming album, “Let there be Witchery”, record collecting and combining tofu and peanut butter.
Trve Kvlt Coffee: What are you up to this morning?
Athenar: This morning? Just the usual. Conducting brain surgery, doing a little bit of star gazing. The typical stuff I do in the morning. Besides that just making coffee and eating oatmeal.
TKC: I usually need a couple cups of coffee before I think of any type of brain surgery.
Athenar: (laughs) Not me man. I dove right into the brain surgery and worry about the coffee later.
TKC: I feel it gives me more of a steady hand.
Athenar: True
TKC: Now you do have an upcoming show on February 12th at Photo City Music Hall. That looks like a pretty cool venue.
Athenar: Yeah, I went there for the first time in October, I went to see Nuclear Assault and it was really cool. I know the guy that sets up the gigs and he asked if we wanted to play there and I said, “Hell Yeah!” They started right before Corona doing a winter bash in Rochester. This is, I think, the second one, “Rotting in Rochester.”
TKC: After that, you have an upcoming tour with Mayhem and Watain.
Athenar: Yup. That’ll be our first tour since Corona. We’ve played a little mishmash of gigs in ’21 but this’ll be our first tour since 2019.
TKC: That’s a pretty good lineup to be touring with too.
Athenar: Yeah. At this point I’ll tour with Cindy Lauper and Huey Lewis.
TKC: (Laughs) I would love to see Midnight open for Cindy Lauper! How does it feel to be hitting the road again?
Athenar: Like I said, we’re not there yet. I won’t believe it until we are actually in the van and in the venues because the rug has been pulled out from underneath us and everybody else before so we’ll see. Still a couple weeks (for possible) disappointment.
TKC: Let’s hope for some good news, I think things are looking a lot better than they did before. I’m in the Cincinnati area and we were hoping to see you play here as a part of Transplant Fest in in 2020. I was so excited for that show, that was my one gleaming hope for 2020 that a show might actually go on. I thought maybe it still has a chance, Cleveland isn’t too far…
TKC:That’s all you see in Cincinnati right now. That’s all that’s going on.
Athenar: I’m sure.
TKC: Do you have an additional tours or festivals planned for this year?
Athenar: Well yeah, there’s a shit ton planned just like there was in 2020 when the last album came out. This one’s about to come out, the new album and there are US tours and European festivals, going to Mexico, that’ll be our first time going to Mexico. There is a fall tour, so there is definitely stuff planned but like I said, we’ll see what happens.
TKC: I hope it happens and I hope we get something in my area.
Athenar: Yeah, I’d love to come down there. I used to come down there all the time in Cincinnati. There’s a record seller guy there. We used to make trips all the time to buy records.
TKC: Oh, any certain record store?
Athenar: No it wasn’t a store. He just sold them out of his basement. He mainly sold NWOBHM singles and shit like that. I can remember that exact name of the town but it was just right outside of Cincinnati. Damn. I can’t remember.
TKC: It’ll hit you in the middle of the day and you’ll remember. I did actually catch you guys at Psycho Fest which was an awesome show!
Athenar: Yeah in Vegas. That was our first show back after Corona.
TKC: You guys were on fire!
Athenar: Yeah it was cool. It felt good and natural to get back out there and play tunes again. I did not expect to be playing in an arena, that’s for sure. That was a bit bizarre.
Photo by Maurice Nunez
TKC: Definitely a cool festival. It was my first time and hopefully I’ll make it out again.
Athenar: Yeah that was good. Danzig was good, Repulsion was good.
TKC: I missed Repulsion because it was the last performance and (The House of Blues) was so crowded, I didn’t think I would make it. Your latest album, “Let there be Witchery”, comes out on March 4th and this is your second with Metal Blade. How does it feel to working with Metal Blade now that this is your sophomore release with them?
Athenar: It’s cool. It’s good they gave us another chance. The first one, we didn’t get a chance to really at all and promote that first one with Metal Blade so if everything goes good here it’s gonna be much mo’ better. They’ve been doing this kind of thing since most of the people that listen to the music have been alive. They know what they’re doing. They are not fly by nighters, they do a good job at what they do.
TKC: Almost everyone’s favorite metal bands have had some kind of brush with Metal Blade at some point in their careers it seems. I am enjoying the re-releases they are doing. I think that’s pretty cool to make them available for people, like myself, who may have discovered Midnight a little later and are having a hard time tracking down some of your earlier material.
Athenar: Yeah. That was part of the reason for them to get involved, so that they could keep the catalog in print and get it overseas more. Where as the previous label (Hell’s Headbangers) they got stuff overseas but it wasn’t as accessible. We are a band of the street and for the street. So we wanna get the music out there. I know it’s easy for people to download and to whatever, get it off the computer. I’m still of the mindset of having an actual record in your hand and playing the record. I would like to think that people can go to the store and buy a record.
TKC: Yeah I’m there with you. I usually go digital for the sake of space or if I can’t find it anywhere else. I’m excited you have stuff coming out on cassette. I’ve listened to the new album and I think it’s fantastic, everything you want with a Midnight record. “Szex Witchery”, “In Sinful Secrecy”, I love “Villainy Wretched Villainy”, which is a great title by the way. I can’t pinpoint a favorite yet, it’s tough. Which song are you particularly excited to unleash upon the world?
Photo by Maurice Nunez
Athenar: Oh man. I mean shit, this question my usual answer for it, they are all my babies. Some of them might have a bit of difficulty in life, some of them may excel in life but I can’t choose favorites. But to play live, we are going to start with “Szex Witchery” because it was the first releashed, so we’ll jam that one. I’m sure we’ll get the other ones, “Frothing Foulness”. The drummer seems to like “More Torment”, it’s got that nice plodding drum beat. So maybe we will do that one too.
TKC. Very cool. Speaking of live shows, much like KISS and Alice Cooper, you totally own that sleazy rock star look complete with a crazy and wild show like the one I saw in Vegas. I remember I was looking at some of my photos I took at the show to see if I could use for this interview but I was like, “No, no they are too blurry, they are running around too much.”
Athenar: (Laughs) It’s all the cocaine and blue meth that we do. We do a lotta blue meth.
TKC: Blue meth?
Athenar: Blue Meth. I just started watch Breaking Bad, they have blue meth in there. I’ll try it one of these days.
TKC: (Laughs) Was the look that you have planned from the get go when you decided you were going to start doing live shows?
Athenar: It wasn’t really intended to be a live band, it didn’t really start out that way but there was an intent to at least to take a picture and put it on a record or something like that. The masks were always there. That was the idea because it was so easy to have a look in exactly one second. There was no applying makeup, there was no getting into some sort of space person costume or whatever else. This was like an instant .99 cent look, ya know? Very Cleveland and just as you know, very Ohio in general.
TKC: Yup, the place I work at, we sell a bunch of those hoods.
Athenar: Well, there you go!
TKC: In many of your photos and promos, you are always holding something on fire. In your most recent promo photo, you have a pair of sai on fire.
Photo by Hannah Verbeuren
Athenar: Yeah! I found those at a garage sale for 3 bucks.
TKC: Oh wow! Really?
Athenar: Like I said man, that’s the Cleveland thing. You do with what you have. You find little things and you make do with ’em.
TKC: It’s looks cool as hell. Anything else that you plan on lighting up?
Athenar: I plan on lighting up the crowd man, that’s what we do. (laughs) Who knows? Fire and Heavy Metal go so well together. It’s kinda like tofu and peanut butter. It goes so well.
TKC: I don’t know about the tofu and peanut butter.
Athenar: But there’s always things to light on fire. Who knows? If I ever grow hair I might light my hair on fire like Michael Jackson.
TKC: There you go! That’ll be…something. Going back to records, I’ve seen a video on Youtube where you are going through your record collection. I love the tour of your house. If you are ever looking for a career change you should look into becoming a realtor because you are pretty good at demonstrating appliances.
Athenar: I love it, I look at realtor.com all the time.
TKC: How long have you been collecting music?
Athenar: Since I was a kid probably when I first started getting into this stuff. Probably since I was 10 years old and I’m *cough* *cough* years old now. (laughs) I’m 48 now so about 38 years.
TKC: Do you have any grails or most prized pieces in your collection?
Athenar: There’s all kinds of things. There’s records that are rare and not that good musically. There’s dollar records that will crush you every day. The thing about it, it’s still about the music for me. It always has been, it’s not about finding, “Oh, that’s the rarest record ever, you’ll never see this copy.” But, I’m always looking for the ultimate risk somewhere, the ultimate tune. You never know where you’ll find that. I’m always looking.
TKC: Do you hit up shops when you are on the road?
Athenar: Oh yeah. All the time. When there’s downtime, which there usually is, me and my other buddy Rodney that go out, we’re scouring the place for records. It gets tougher nowadays but you still gotta look. You never know.
TKC: Any favorite shops that you have run across?
Athenar: Over the years some of the best I’ve always thought were…actually we always have fun looking in Rochester speaking of that. They had a place called Heavy Metal Records, Record Archive, House of Guitars. There is a lot of good stuff upstate/western New York. I don’t know why that is. Maybe because it’s a little on the outskirts of New York City. They had the distribution company, I think it was called Important. So there was always a lot of records going around that area. But shit man. That’s the thing about records. You can find a Tyrant 7″ behind the counter somewhere in Cincinnati. You never know, you just need to keep looking.
Photo by Maurice Nunez
TKC: That’s always part of my mission when I travel. Where’s the record store?
Athenar: Yeah, it’s always an adventure.
TKC: This interview is for Trve Kvlt Coffee, have you heard of it?
Athenar: Yeah! I have. I wanna say they made Midnight coffee mugs?
TKC: Yes indeed.
Athenar: Alright. I’m not crazy. Mark that off the list.
TKC: You gotta make sure to try some of the coffee sometime!
Athenar: Hell yeah, I’d love to. Send a bag of coffee and a bag of blue meth.
TKC: Well, I do live in Kentucky, I can probably get some next door, it’s like borrowing a cup of sugar. Anything else that you would like to add?
Athenar: I don’t think so. It was nice rapping with you in the morning while conducting brain surgery.
Let There be Witchery will be out on March 4th via Metal Blade Records
With a name like Puke Mutant you get a feel for the band before you even manage to hit play. Not much is known about the band other than they formed in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 2020 and claim to be the #1 Adult Contemporary Artist for citizens of sewers across the nation. They guys in Puke Mutant play some nasty no frills Death Metal with a heavy dose of gross out humor added to the chaos. Gross out humor and Death Metal? That’s always a winner in my book. If you are a fan of Pungent Stench or early Carcass, this is one for you to check out. The vocals are regurgitated and spewed perfectly melding with the bands dark and vile lyrical themes. The twin vocal attack reminds me of the grinding my garbage disposal does whenever a spoon is accidentally lodged in the drain. The guitars provide some thick, chunky and punishing riffs with a few biting solos thrown in for good measure. With only 6 tracks, “An Unsightly Desecration,” is a short and satisfying listen.
