Interview: Blood Legion no comments

Blood Legion is a Death Thrash Metal band hailing from the muddy banks of Kuala Lumpur. They got 1 demo and 1 promo under their belt. I was so impressed by the sound of their 2012 promo (read my review here) that I made it a mission to get an interview with the band. I managed to get in touch with the band and got Pat, their bass player to answer a couple of questions so that the metalheads around the world  (me included)can get to know more about these thrashing maniacs. One of the most exciting band for the year 2012 in my opinion. Read on.

The Mighty Blood Legion

TBB - Greetings. Hello there. Kindly let the readers know, who is answering this interview?
Pathman - Hey Hafeez! I’m Pathman, and I play bass for Blood Legion. Thanks so much for interviewing us. My apologies for getting back to you late.

TBB - Can you please give a brief write up on the History of Blood Legion? How it was formed, when and why?
Pathman - Blood Legion was formed in early 2008 by Shan, Jai and yours truly. It was quite random, honestly. We’re all fans of metal and being good friends for quite a while, we thought it’d be a great idea to start a band together and play the stuff we love.

TBB - Who is the current line up of the band and their respective instruments?
Pathman - The current lineup is Shan on vocals, Jai on guitars, myself on bass and Chris on drums.

TBB - To my ears, you guys played some sort of a Death Thrash metal with an awesome old school vibe. Cerebral Fix and Benediction came to mind. I am sure you got that a lot. But from the bands perspective, what sort of music that you are trying bring forward with Blood Legion? What are your influences?
Pathman - Ok I’ll start off with our personal favorites first cos they’re the guys who we grew up listening and influenced our playing:

Shan: Iron Maiden, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Slayer, Carcass, Entombed, Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquility, Hypocrisy.

Jai: Scorpions, Iced Earth, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Rage Against The Machine, Obituary, Deicide, Kreator.

Pathman: Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Cream, Motorhead, King Diamond/Mercyful Fate, Sepultura, Death, Atheist, Emperor, Sodom.

Chris: Iron Maiden, Symphony X, Dream Theater, Judas Priest, Metallica, Nightwish, Saxon, Helloween, Deep Purple, Genesis.

Individually we’re influenced by different bands and genres. As a band, we wanna play stuff we like to hear and the stuff that influenced us. That’s why we don’t filter or limit our music to a certain style. There’s a mixture of traditional heavy, thrash, and death metal. In other words, we’re a ‘rojak’ band. Shan’s growling vocals is the only reason we’re called a Death Metal band haha! I know this, to some, might sound as if we’re not focused or being ambitious about our music, but from our point of view it gives us freedom. Freedom to break the rules, to do whatever we want. As long as the shit’s heavy, we’re game. And that in my opinion, is what metal’s all about anyway.

TBB - You released your first demo back in 2008, Exsanguination. Took a break and began to play again in 2012 and released a 3 track promo. Does the sound of the band changed since the first demo?
Pathman - The demo was written when the band was merely months into its existence. It consisted songs we thrashed out in the studio during our jams and most of them were at skeletal level.We have improved since and you can say that our playing and songwriting now are more complex. But the core remains the same – janji layan. We love to hear and play headbangable stuff, and we intend to keep it that way.

TBB - Your songs gave a lot of emphasis on grooves and headbangable rhythm sections. Was it intended to be so or it was never planned?
Pathman - You could say a bit of both. Intended as in we want to write headbangable/layanable stuff. Never planned as in we never know what we’re going to write. I know it sounds contradicting and silly but that’s how we approach our songs. We never tell ourselves “Ok, we’re gonna write a typical or brutal song now. It’s gonna start with a particular rhythm, spiced with this and that scale on the bridge, have a LaRocque-ish lead, then end it with a doomy part”. Nope.We just hit the first note, and take it from there. See what comes to mind and what fits. As long as it’s heavy, catchy and fun to play. And to tell you the truth, all the songs we have were conceived when we were just mucking about with our instruments.

TBB - You have been sending the promo to all over the world. How are the feedbacks so far? Why do you think metalheads should check out Blood Legion.
Pathman - The feedback we’ve received is great. A lot of people have commented on our sound, just like you have in your earlier question. We’re really pleased that there are people who appreciate what we’re doing. As to why metalheads should check Blood Legion out, that’s a tough question. I personally don’t like blowing my own trumpet. But if you like the sound of a blender and animal mating calls, give the band a listen. Whether you like it or not, it’s totally up to you.

TBB - You have been doing gigs here and there. How was the reaction from the metalheads so far? Any awesome/unfortunate experience that you would like to share?
Pathman - All our shows since the beginning have been encouraging. A lot of people who have seen us play have said really nice things about us, and that drives us to keep improving show after show.For us, a show is to entertain the crowd and have fun at the same time. That’s why we treat every show, however big or small, the same. Whether its 3 or 30 people watching us, we’ll just get up there and give our all. And when we see people moshing and headbanging, we get more energetic too. That’s when we go back with sore backs and necks haha! As for experiences, I think all of them are good, even that once when Shan elbowed me right in the face, forcing me to hit the wrong note. I know that’s probably a ‘bad experience’ but it added comic relief to a show that’s normally full of brutal ‘aaarrggghh’ and ‘uurgghs’. And that’s good in my opinion.

TBB - Any future plans? A follow up release maybe? Merchandise? how can one get in touch with the band?
Pathman - We plan to release a full-length hopefully end of this year. We’re currently compiling whatever material we have and rehearsing them. We don’t have any merch at the moment but we’re planning to release some during the full-length. If anyone’s interested in Blood Legion, they can contact us on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/bloodlegion666. We still have our promos to give away for free, so interested peeps, hook us up!

TBB - Thank you for your time, mate. Any last shout outs to the readers of thebulletbeltblog?
Pathman - Once again, thanks Hafeez for your time, support and this interview. It’s a real pleasure. And to all you out there who have been supporting us, you guys are the best! Never stop supporting your local bands! Thank you!

Visit Blood Legion at their facebook page now.

Blood Legion | Facebook

Bands: Razed. no comments

Razed

1. It has been a while since I do a band feature here in The Bullet Belt. I blame Myspace for that. But when each and every time I came across a good band that writes good music, which is not that often nowadays (I guess being a bit older made me a bit more picky about the type and the quality of metal I listen to), my fingers would itch to write about it. The same reason why I am writing about this band. Razed.

2. The band, hailing from Bangsar/Shah Alam, was formed back in 2008 and consists of Danial on Bass, Adam Shahir on Drums, Amy on vocals and Raz Azraai on guitars. I came across Razed while I was browsing for cool band logos in Encyclopaedia Metallum. It was not their logo that drew me to them though, since their logo was too simple for my liking, it was their genre. The band was described as a hard rock band, so I was keen to give them a try. Luckily I found some of their tracks on youtube.

3. The tracks which was uploaded by the band themselves were taken from their 2011 EP titled Faith & Victory. The EP contains 6 tracks of pure heavy metal and hard rock awesomeness. I have to admit that I am not a big fan of Hard Rock, but I appreciate properly written songs. I am impressed with the arrangements especially the riffs and solos, nothing short of virtuosity there.  The vocals were impressive too. The drums were not something that you can call extremely technical, but it compliments the arrangement for each of their songs.

4. Music wise, its heavy, its rocking and its fucking groovy (which is always an A point in my book). There was a southern rock edge to it. Its like Pantera (The Great Southern Trendkill album Pantera) with a Phil Anselmo high notes and James Hetfield gruff barks hybrid (the Black album Hetfield) singing. You should try this one. Get in touch with the band.

LATEST UPDATE:

i. Well, when you got a latest update section for a fresh post, it is obvious that you got some of the infos about the band slightly wrong. Well, I have been in contact with the main man behind the band, Raz, and he managed to fill me in with the latest development of the band. The current line of the band is Raz - guitars, Aidil - Drums, Gurdev - vocals and Danial - Bass.

ii. Oh yeah, one more thing. They dont play southern-esque heavy metal anymore. Based on the new song which was released recently, the band made a 90 degree turn towards technical death metal. Yes. You read that right. Technical fuckin' Death Metal.

iii. The new song, Silver Kiss, was a pretty decent death metal track. You can try and give it a go HERE. The vocals were pretty good. The drums were superb. The riffs were tight as fuck but it lacked the swinging headbangable groove that made 90s death metal so enjoyable to us all. But thats just my personal preference.

iv. Thats the thing with modern death metal bands nowadays. Too much emphasis on technicalities. The other day, I tried browsing for new death metal bands and all I got were these complicated, technical and brutal death metal bands. I wish we could all just go back to the time when death metal was simple, when it was all about 3 riffs and tight groove sections. Nowadays bands are trying to put 132 riffs and 21 tempo changes in a song. I guess I am a bit carried away here. Haha.

v. What ever it is, Razed is a very potential band that you need to check out. Technical or no technical, at least its death metal and not another fucking metalcore band. Haha.

Razed | Facebook

  

Videos: Once Upon A Time In Norway no comments

Once Upon A Time In Norway | 6o Minutes | Grenzelos Production | 2007

1. Once Upon A Time In Norway - The History of Mayhem and the Rise of Norwegian Black Metal, is basically a documentary aiming focus on the most notorious Norwegian black metal band of all time, the self proclaimed leader of the second wave of Scandinavian Black Metal elite, the infamous, the notorious, Mayhem.

2. This documentary is basically the most comprehensive record on the subject of Mayhem up to the event that made them, their music and their country world famous, straight from the horse’s mouth, from the members and former members of the band. You’ll have in depth interviews with Manheim (drums), Messiah (vocals), Necrobutcher (bass) (all three were from the first line up of the band together with Destructor, later known as Euronymous) and the whole other lots related to the band.

3. The documentary kicked off with an audio statement made by Count Grishnack justifying his infamous  criminal act of killing Mayhem’s guitarist, Euronymous back in 1993. Basically with that, I have already managed to perceive where would the climax of this documentary be. With Mayhem being the main subject matter, I don’t really blame the producers of this video for this easy let down. It is also funny that with that, I was also able to guess that this documentary would not give length to the post murder Mayhem.

4. You will be able to learn about the history of the band, through the tongues of Necro, Manheim and the gang as they recounts the idealism and philosophy behind the band and its music back in their early formative years and how they plot for world domination way before they even got a song to their name. A serious marketing strategy there, if you want to learn a thing or two.

5. It is also revealing to note how Satanism (the idea not really the cult) and politics influenced the development of the band in their earlier years, especially left wing politics in the likes of communism (Leninism and Stalinism) and how Euronymous and Manheim were so into communism. Euro went to the extent of being a card carrying member of a local communist party.

6. I love the fact that they organized the film into segments. You will have segments in the likes of history, politics, underground, dead, church burnings and so forth depending on the focus of the particular part of the documentary. So the build up was bits by bit which was very good for me. And of course, the main course would be Grishnack, the murders and the existence of the notorious Inner Circle.

7. I read from the internet that there are a few people out there complaining that this documentary lacked depth for failing to really elaborate on the reason why the Norwegian Black Metal scene existed in the first place, comparing it to Until The Light Take Us. Now, thats too far, blasphemous even. 

8. Well, I have to disagree. This is a very very good documentary and light years away from UTLTU. UTLTU was a horrendous piece of crap. Information were provided everywhere by everyone. You just need to know how to piece up the puzzles. Well, if that does not convince you, at least this video does not have a tap dancing clown doing head bangs and pumping metal horns, all over the fucking floor.

9. In all honesty, I love this documentary. It was professionally produced and very well written and organized. If you worship Mayhem and black metal, then you should go out and get (download) this. Oh, one more thing, this documentary is in Norwegian. Unless you are proficient in the language, I would suggest you make sure that the subtitles are available.  

Releases: Filsufatia/Twilight Fauna split release. no comments

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Books: Kiss, Behind The Mask: The Official authorized Biography. no comments

KISS - Behind The Mask.

Title: KISS, Behind The Mask - The Official Authorized Biography.
Authors: David Leaf & Ken Sharp.
Publisher: Warner Books.
Additional Information: Paperback, 431 Pages, RM 5.00, Big Bad Wolf Bookfest.

1. First of all, I need to make myself clear that I am not a big KISS fan. I do not really like their brand of rock & roll. Understandably so since I belong to a less older school of metal fans. I was introduced to metal when the term metal had already been invented, shaped and characterized. So being a younger generation of metal fans, KISS is not really something that I would want to associate with my kind of metal. But of course, that's just me.

2. Back in the 70s, when the term metal itself was still obscure and heavy music was still called hard rock or heavy rock, KISS was THE band for a lot of uncles and aunts out there. The band managed to stay strong through out the waves of modern and more refined and defined idea of metal, just by being KISS.

3. Even though I was and still am not a fan, I bought this book for the sake of having the needs to read and learn about the development and evolution of this music, metal. Even if there are a lot of young metalheads like me out there who would be a bit hesitant to call KISS, metal (even the band themselves preferred the term hard rock) I can reassure you that KISS was and still is metal.

4. I got this book for RM5 at a book festival a couple of months ago. I hope Gene Simmons would not freak out over this. That Gene, always the entrepreneur. This book got 431 pages which were divided into 3 parts.  These 3 parts were further divided into 17 chapters.

5. The first part would be like your typical autobiography. A third person perspective, detailing the beginnings of the band. The second part consists of interview excerpts from the members of the band themselves and everyone else. The third part consists of a total breakdown of each and every album, each and every song ever recorded by the band, by the band themselves. It would be interesting if you are familiar with the current and back catalog of their songs.

6. You must buy this if you are a hardcore KISS fan. It is a must have. Having said that, I have to admit that I totally digs Beth. Hell yeah!