Q&A with Justice For The Damned

Could you please introduce the readers to the band and what each member does?

Bobak (Vocals), Ben (Bass), Chas (Drums), Nick (Guitar), Nathan (Guitar)

How was Strike Hard Fest? Was it one of the more memorable shows you've played?

Its safe to say it was probably THE most memorable show we've ever played and certainly the most moving.

Your latest single Deep Rotting Fear, what is it about and is this the direction you guys are heading with the new material?

DRF is about a struggle with love, depression and anxiety and focuses on very real and particular moments from 2015 in which the events that inspired the song happened. This is definitely a direction we'll be taking the new material in, but we aren't going to be limiting ourselves and will definitely be exploring many sounds on the way to our next release.

You're heading out on the road with I Exalt in March, are you guys close and what are you looking forward to mostly about this tour?

Well we only came to know I, Exalt last year in September; we met when our separate tours were sharing the same shows. We did find quite quickly that all the guys in IE are great blokes and after a few shows together we were all quite comfortable hanging and chatting. We're really grateful that they've decided to bring us along to celebrate their new release with them! A few notable things we're looking forward to would include: Our traditional Coffs Harbour stay over and visiting Mr Burger (Melbourne)

Have you guys been writing new material? Should we expect an EP or maybe a full length this year?

As a band we are never not writing new material, but we have been starting to put together a new release, we are aiming for something a bit longer than EP this year. It will definitely be our finest work, that much we know for certain.

Do you all have different influences in terms of music? Or do you all have similar tastes when it comes to heavy music?

We all have incredibly different influences musically, but they do overlap in a lot of ways and that does mean we can be the band that we are quite comfortably.

Which Australian band would you love to tour with one day?

Ocean Grove, Graves, Hellions, Thy Art Is Murder & Parkway Drive are all Australian acts we really like.

Which International band would you love to tour with one day?

This is an easy one, Kublai Khan

Hardcore and metal shows can often be a violent setting if the wrong people are there. What’s your stance on hate moshing?

Well we believe people like what they like and love it or hate it people are going to likely be doing those things at shows, so it’s definitely wise to keep an eye out. As long as everyone looks after each other and pick each other up when they fall though we can all have a good time

How far do you hope to take JFTD and what do you hope to achieve from the band?

As far as possible. As far as some not too long-term goals that are achievable, we want to be touring more and release something fantastic this year.

What bands are you currently jamming?

Title Fight, Avenged Sevenfold, Deadmau5 and Slim Dusty

Who's the funniest member of the band and what's the funniest thing they've done that has made you guys laugh?

Everyone has had their moments, but the one man who will take the cake every single time is the Nathan Kershaw. He's done countless things that have left us in tears, but he once began packing up his gear before we had finished our set and that was something we will never forget.

What was your favourite release of 2015?

New Strength by Kublai Khan

How would you best describe your music and is there an overall message that you guys try and get across? Or is it just a bunch of mates having fun and making heavy tunes?

Our music could be best described in our eyes as hardcore/metalcore that’s blackened. Some notable characteristics of our music are beat downs, breakdowns, blast beats, grim chords, deep melodious sections and 'riffs'. As far as an overall message though, we don’t necessarily have an agenda that we are trying to push out to people. Everyone in Justice all does believe in maintaining strong character traits like kindness, humility and compassion, but as of yet we haven't seeped that into the lyrical content. That may change in the future but for now we've been writing songs that highlight personal experiences.

 Catch Justice For The Damned on their upcoming tour with I Exalt this March, dates below:

 

The Black Dahlia Murder Guitarist Quits Band

Sources revealed today that The Black Dahlia Murder has officially confirmed the departure of guitar player Ryan Knight, who joined the band in 2008.

Vocalist Trevor Strnad has this to say:

"When Ryan first joined the band, he drove from the hospital where his first child had just been born to begin practicing and writing with us, on the eve of the recording of our 'Deflorate' album. In his years with the band, he made a lot of sacrifices to be with us and uphold our insanely demanding touring and recording schedule…He always gave us 100 percent, and for that I thank him.

"He is an incredible musician and creative force…It was exciting to make new material with him, and his wealth of knowledge has left its stamp on the band's music forever. I always knew that his time in the band would be limited, and it has now come time for him to go home and be with his family. Ryan, being the stand-up dude that he is, told us of his plans to leave the band more than a year ago, and with heavy hearts we began to plan for The Black Dahlia Murder's future.

"We admire that Ryan went to such lengths to make his departure as easy on the band as possible, even going as far as to help us find a talented leadsman in Brandon Ellis – who has been lending us his tremendous guitar skills on the current TBDM tour…Knight is one of my best friends and I wish him the best in everything he does. He will always have a place here in the TBDM family. I look back at our time together with nothing but gratitude."

Meanwhile, Ryan Knight departed with this message:

"After nearly 7 years with The Black Dahlia Murder, I feel the time has come for me to step down and focus on other aspects of my life. The decision to leave was very difficult, yet necessary I feel for me to ultimately be happy and keep moving forward. I feel very lucky to have had the best band-mates/crew (past and present) to traverse the world, guzzle beers, and bring the rock with every night…Thank you guys <3, I'd like to give a HUGE thank you to all our fans for being so cool to me over the years, and all the hardworking people over at Metal Blade Records for their support, and general badassery. In the meantime, I'll still be teaching guitar, working on new music, and just getting pretty domestic in general. Thanks again!"

I Exalt - Servant

Technical deathcore rising stars, I Exalt, are back with their second offering in the form of Servant, a six-track taste of the new progressive direction the Adelaide five piece are heading.

Servant begins with War Mouth, a haunting one-minute intro with eerie distortion and screams of pain and agony, perfectly preluding the brutality that’s about to be unleashed.

With it’s grossly heavy and dark approach, Slaves helps to cement the tone of this EP. While the track is more straightforward than the rest of the EP, it’s the last 90 seconds of this track that truly showcases their ability. With a gradual build up into a technical thrashing of guitars and drums, it’s perfectly matched with shrill vocals that sound like they’ve been unleashed from Hell. The good news – it only gets heavier from here.

Next up is Formless, filled with impressive and fancy riffing, punishing and unforgiving groove and drum fills that leave you banging your head to the madness that ensues. With a performance that screams sorrow, pain, hatred and aggression, Daniel Konstantinou absolutely nails it on the vocals. While he’s always had impressive vocals to suit the unique sound of I Exalt, his range has improved significantly since their last EP Vessel and it shows just how much effort and practice he has put in for this release. Going from deep and guttural growls that would fit right in on a Devourment album, to high-pitched and earsplitting screams that would leave Alex Koehler (Chelsea Grin) red in the face.

The familiar sounds of a Behemoth-esque intro ushers in the relentless Dialect, which is my personal standout track. Every single member in the band shines on this one; especially the drummer Mason Page, who illustrates his talent with some extremely well executed and audibly pleasing gravity blasts. The boys made a video for Dialect, giving further weight to the track with the addition of the powerful visuals. A special guest vocal spot by Matthew Jones from UK deathcore outfit Martyr Defiled also gives the song an even heavier vibe. By this point you might need a lobotomy from the sheer brutality that your brain has endured, and that’s exactly what you’ll get.

The second last track, Lobotomy, which was the lead single from the release, brings a chaotically creative edge. With melodic guitar structures and deeply harsh vocals, this track is a brooding anthem that delivers strongly.

Finally, a Black Mass occurs as we sail into the darkness of the closing track. All of the elements are here to create a perfect formula for a technical and vigorous deathcore song. Explosive from start to finish, energetic and most importantly… a pure evil sound.

Watch the official video for Dialect here:

Visit the links below to purchase Servant plus all merch: 

http://iexalt.bandcamp.com/

http://iexalt.bigcartel.com/

Iconoclast - Hallucination

All the way over on the other side of this magnificent country is a band from Perth that is quickly making a name for themselves by pulverising crowds with an intense sound, which is definitely something to get excited about.

Iconoclast have just released their debut album ‘Hallucination’ and it displays the potential of what Australian deathcore has to offer the rest of the World. The first track, The Virus Of Faith rips through the speakers with demonic vocals and an onslaught of intense instrumental carnage. Whilst being catchy and heavy at the same time isn’t exactly a new approach within the current world of metal, Iconoclast are absolute pro’s at the formula, taking a familiar sound and making it their own.

Another standout track, New World Slaughter, is probably the song you would choose when introducing them to someone to showcase the talent of this band. It is a textbook track of how a deathcore song should be structured, with a welcome addition of unique melody and brooding atmosphere. The breakdowns are huge, the riffs are fierce and the blast beats are rapid, accompanied by savage and tenacious vocals that make it all the more powerful.

Iconoclast could easily be one of the big stars of this genre, and they're only one EP and one LP into their promising career. None of the songs on this album are boring, and it’s extremely well produced. They deserve to make it, because honestly, their sound is refreshing in a sometimes monotonous scene. At times it’s pretty hard to believe that this is a debut album due to it's professional nature. With the immense vocal range and the captivating melody of the guitars, it truly is something to appreciate.

With fellow Western Australian bands like Make Them Suffer finally getting the attention they deserve, it won’t be long before Iconoclast are packing their bags and heading off for an overseas tour. With some Australian deathcore acts continuously upping the ante, it’s bands like Iconoclast that continue to raise the bar for extreme and brutal music.

Watch the lyric video for New World Slaughter below:

To purchase Hallucination, visit:
https://iconoclastau.bandcamp.com/ 

To see more of the band, visit their Facebook:
www.facebook.com/iconoclastau

Whoretopsy - Never Tear Us Apart

Melbourne based slammers Whoretopsy could very well be our best kept secret when it comes to extreme music. They’ve released a demo, 2 EP’s and 2 full lengths with ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ being the latest in their gore-tastic catalogue. 

They’ve toured South East Asia alongside bands such as Cannibal Corpse and have supported many great international bands here in Australia also. The band will be embarking on their very own headline tour across our country spanning from late August to early October (dates below) before the massive Nile and Unearth tour in November. So we could very well see a band that I’ve been well aware of for a few years now become more recognized and embraced amongst the metal community very soon. Mind you, their sound and lyrics aren’t for everyone. Imagine the lyrics being taken from an Australian B-grade horror movie and times it by a thousand, with added gore and over the top sexual innuendo.

To fully understand how full on the lyrics are here’s a visual…

See? Crazy right! But pretty damn catchy and you can’t deny their heaviness with those chugging slams and intense drum blasts. Something I’ve noticed with Whoretopsy on this new album is their slow transition from a Slam Metal/Death Metal band to a more modern Deathcore influenced band. Whilst they still have that sound that they began with, you can’t help but notice a modern take on what they do with some very groovy and monstrous breakdowns. Their humorous lyrical content and extreme music is enough for me to fall in love with this band, if you’re into that sort of thing. There’s going to be some people out there that will think Whoretopsy actually do go too far, but isn’t that what this genre of music is all about? It’s nice to see that shock value and horror themed music is still being made, instead of all of the ‘I FUCKING HATE THE WORLD!’ bands that overflow heavy music these days.

Although it might be a putrid smell, it’s a breath of fresh air nonetheless with some of the best extreme music I’ve heard come out of Australia this year. ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ will make you want to laugh, cry, spew, poo, head-bang, mosh, drink a beer and kill your cheating girlfriend all at the same time. It’s also great to see them referencing so many iconic Australia products such as Don Strasburg, Red Bear and Woodstock cans and the adult store chain Club X. This album is definitely not for the weak of heart or anyone who is easily offended for that matter. So before you start complaining about a bunch of talented and angry men playing this sort of music, how about you just pretend you never heard the name Whoretopsy. I bet you’ll be back on YouTube in no time watching one of their lyric videos like this one…

Standout tracks: Never Tear Us Apart, Gym Junkie, and Thirty Shades Of White.

‘Never Tear Us Apart’ will be released via Vicious Instinct on August 20^th and is available for pre-order now at www.viciousinstinct.com

I give this album 7.5 out of 10!

Here's some tour dates that you can catch Whoretopsy at. Make sure you do!

Fear Factory Interview with Burton C Bell

Ever since the birth of their debut album 'Soul Of A New Machine' in 1992, Los Angeles based industrial metal gods Fear Factory have impacted the heavy music world with their hard-hitting, technological and extreme sound. Now in 2015, Fear Factory have just released their ninth studio album titled 'Genexus' which takes old school elements that long time listeners will love but also accompanied by a very modern sound that will please fans from the past, present and future.  Vocalist and co-founder of Fear Factory, Burton C Bell took some time out from his busy schedule to chat about the new album, change in music, other projects and much more.

RR: Congrats on the new album Genexus! Do you mind telling the readers what the title means and how you came up with it exactly?

Burton: (laughs) Well, we were searching for a title for quite some time and Dino came across this word online. He presented it to me and we couldn’t really find anything about this word, we jumped online and searched dictionaries. So we decided to create our own definition for it, which is a combination of both words.

Genesis + Nexus = Genexus.

Genesis being creation and nexus being change. So what we did was we made the term or the name for the next generation of humanity when man becomes machine.

RR: How do you feel about the new album? When you compare it to your previous album ‘The Industrialist’ for example. It sounds like you guys are back on top of things and doing what Fear Factory do best once again.

Burton: I feel great about this record and we spent a lot of time on it. I mean it was a painstaking length to do it properly. The Industrialist was a good record but it was a little rushed and this time we were able to take our time and make it exactly how we wanted it. Nuclear Blast was also very supportive and helpful through the process and we’re all very proud of it.

RR: Speaking of Nuclear Blast. What’s it like to be signed to them now along with so many other great bands at the moment?

Burton: It feels great! It reminds me of being part of a family once again. Kind of like what Roadrunner Records used to be like back in the 90’s. We’re the happiest we’ve been for a long time and Nuclear Blast are doing an amazing job.

RR: After being in a band for 25 years and experiencing so many changes along the way, what’s your take on the heavy metal scene right now?

Burton: Saturated (laughs). There’s a lot of bands out there, I mean A LOT! So many acts to compete with but there’s also so many good bands out there making great music. Because of the Internet there’s been much more exposure to metal and all different types of metal with all these different streaming services now. People are able to check out bands that they hear about much easier, because before that people actually had to go out and buy a record so they could hear a band.  I think there’s more people listening to metal than ever but metal is still a genre that’s not fully accepted.

RR: I think that with physical sales it’s also usually the heavier bands that still sell a lot of albums when they’re released because metal fans are very loyal. You’ve got Lamb Of God sitting at the top of the album charts now and it’s great to see some heavier acts getting more exposure.

Burton: That’s totally true! Heavy metal fans are very loyal. Metal fans are loyal as hell man! They do go out there and they support the artists, which I love. They go to the concerts, they buy the records, they wear the shirts and that’s great. Metal fans are definitely the most supportive and loyal music fans that I know of.

RR: This new album is your ninth studio album, which in itself is an amazing milestone to achieve. Do you personally have a favourite Fear Factory album?

Burton: It’s like asking me which one is my favourite child (laughs). Each record tells a different a story of the life of Fear Factory. You know, it’s a different chapter with different elements for our journey. I love the first record because it was our first record; it was such an exciting time for us. I love the second album because it defined us. I love the third album because it propelled us to gold record status. I love Digimortal because it took Fear Factory to a whole other level. Every record just holds a different meaning and I don’t have a favourite.

RR: A lot of people have said that ‘Genexus’ is like a mixture of ‘Obsolete’ and ‘Digitmortal’ with a modern day twist. I tend to agree, but what is your opinion on that? Would you agree?

Burton: Absolutely! I love they say that! Instead of saying it sounds like Nine Inch Nails meets Rammstein (laughs) you know? I’m glad they’re comparing it to not only two Fear Factory albums, but also two Fear Factory albums that we love. That was our intention from the get-go, to make an album with a modern take but also keep that element that got us where we are today. We wanted a Demanufacture feel, but we also wanted an Obsolete feel and vibe as well, and it took many of us and a lot of time and hard work to make it happen.

RR: You guys were here earlier on in the year for Soundwave Festival, will it be a while before Australia gets their Fear Factory fix again?

Burton: It won’t be until 2016. We’re definitely planning on getting there again, but so far there’s nothing concrete as of yet. We love Australia, so we can’t wait to get back there.

RR: Will it be a headline tour this time around?

Burton: Oh yeah! We’ll be headlining for sure.

RR: You’re obviously a huge fan of sci-fi. Do you have a favourite sci-fi film of all time?

Burton: Blade Runner. It’s just a perfect film; it has a great story, great characters, and great effects for its time and just a great concept. It also has a really cool soundtrack and I just love everything about that movie.

RR: You’re releasing a graphic novel very soon titled ‘The Industrialist’ that is also the title of your 2012 album. Can you tell us a bit about it?

Burton: Yeah, it’s my own personal project which will be completely released on my own rather than a publishing company. The Industrialist album is the soundtrack to this novel; the story is captured through the images and scenes with tremendous detail. I found an artist out of London named Will Guard to create the images to follow the story. I found another artist out of Pennsylvania named Vachel Shannon to digitally colour the images. It’s a completely limited edition, so there were only 500 made, it’s only available through www.BurtonCBell.com and it looks fucking great!

RR: Well it’s been a pleasure talking to you Burton and we can’t wait to see Fear Factory here in Australia again soon. Thanks for your time.

Burton: Thank you very much, I appreciate it and thank you for taking the time early in the morning to speak with me. We will see you very soon hopefully and enjoy the rest of your day.

'Genexus' is out now via Nuclear Blast Records and available on iTunes and all JB HIFI retailers across Australia. 

I Exalt LOBOTOMY Tour

Adelaide deathcore monsters I Exalt are heading out on the road this September along with Sydney band Semper Fi for what is sure to be a fun and crazy tour. Get to a show at the following dates if you can. Wanderlust Music Agency have done an excellent job putting this together. Local acts to be announced soon:

Thursday 17/9 - Toowoomba - The Fuzzbox - 18+

Friday 18/9 - Brisbane - The Lab - AA

Saturday 19/9 - Sydney - Chatswood Youth Centre - AA
 
Sunday 20/9 - Wollongong - Rad Bar - AA
 
Monday 21/9 - Newcastle - Hombre Records - AA
 
Wednesday 23/9 - Canberra - Basement - 18+
 
Thursday 24/9 - Geelong - Barwon Club - 18+
 
Friday 25/9 - Melbourne - Wrangler Studios - AA
 
Friday 2/10 - Adelaide - Enigma Bar - AA