Category: Feature

Christian Muenzner is a man with almost as many bands as there are notes in his average riff. Known for his extremely fast, technical guitar playing, Muenzner brings his style to a whole breadth of genres from death (Obscura) to thrash (Paradox) to extreme prog (Alkaloid). He also heads up a power metal band, Eternity’s End, whose third album Embers Of War saw its release recently.

After reviewing Embers Of War and loving it, we caught up with its mastermind to find out more:

A Certain Taste: How would you describe the sound and the concept of Eternity’s End in 2021?

Christian Muenzner: I mean, we’re a power metal band but with the term “power metal” nowadays, everybody thinks something different. There are so many schools of power metal, so maybe I’ll start with what we’re not. [laughs] We’re not one of the pop power metal kind of bands, although we have very catchy choruses and accessible songs. We’re not really classical metal because it’s faster than that and it’s more technical. You have big choirs, reminiscent of the German power metal scene but it’s more related to the heavy or aggressive riff-dominated power metal. I like to call our music “technical power metal”. When we started, on the first album, we were pretty much a neo-classical metal band in the Malmsteen or Symphony X kind of school but then we moved more into the speed and thrash metal direction and I think we found our own niche by doing that.

ACT: Definitely. I think every album has gotten faster. (more…)

If you follow death metal in any capacity, it’s hard to miss Sahil Makhija. Also known as The Demonstealer, Sahil has been at the forefront of Indian death metal for over a decade. Not only did he co-run India’s first death metal festival, Ressurection Festival but he also runs Demonic Studios, his own label Demonic Resurrection as well as working with the band Demonic Resurrection (across five studio albums and a live album), and releasing his own solo music as Demonstealer. We had the opportunity to ask him a few questions ahead of the release of the new Demonstealer EP, The Holocene Termination (review here).

A Certain Taste: You talked a lot about being in a slump musically. This is something that happens to all creatives, but how did you get out of it?

Sahil Makhija: My slump has never been a creative block as much as it was about my frustrations with the music industry. I’ve been struggling with my band Demonic Resurrection for 2 decades and especially the last 10 years with regards to touring and being able to book shows. Despite having booked and played some of the biggest metal festivals things did not get any easier. I won’t get into details but a lot of things like this just broke me and made me want to quit and it took a while for me to find the drive and motivation to continue making music. I love the music more than anything and I’ve spent my entire life trying to get somewhere with the music. I guess it was just time that helped me get out of the funk I was in.

ACT: The new EP features a relatively large roster of guest musicians. Can you talk a little about how you managed to pull together this group?

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One of my top records last year was a concept album that (almost) contained no vocals and was arguably not even metal. Mountain Caller’s Chronicle I: The Truthseeker is a magical 40-minute journey through doomy post-rock soundscapes that arrived with little fanfare but left a huge impression on me and many others. July will see the band release Chronicle: Prologue, a 3-track EP covering the start of their protagonist’s story. Ahead of reviewing the EP, we caught up with drummer Max Maxwell to chat about how the band came together, where the concept and story came from, the band’s writing process and more.

A Certain Taste: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions. Can you kick us off by talking a bit about how you all met and came to form Mountain Caller?

Max, Mountain Caller: Thanks for talking to us! The band was formed when guitarist Claire tweeted that she wanted to form a heavy band based in London, and that was retweeted onto my timeline. I wouldn’t normally reply to that kind of thing, but looking at her profile showed she had an immaculate taste. Reflections Of A Floating World by Elder had just come out at that point, and I think that was a real touchstone record for both of us, so seeing that Claire was a fan as well gave me high hopes that we’d be on a similar wavelength.

Claire and El, our bassist, had known each other for many years as well, moving in similar musical and friendly circles. So we set a date to meet up in a rehearsal room, just to jam some covers and get to know each other. Mountain Caller was formed from us playing together and seeing how our personalities intertwined, as friends and musicians. (more…)

With the release of Dark Triads: Bitter Psalms To A Sordid Species, Epiphanic Truth has been added to the list of bands who have taken up the task of explaining the why behind the extreme metal rather than just demonstrating the how.

Svalbard speaks very clearly in song titles, lyrics and actions about what they stand for, believe in and are angry about. Dawn Ray’d recently released a double-A side where they state their position very plainly. Këkht Aräkh, while not political, also fit into this category by making what can only be described as romantic black metal and covering topics such as losing love and social exclusion.

These bands do not simply sing about gore, satan or detached, abstract anger. They explain the why. Epiphanic Truth does the same but in a slightly less straightforward and earnest way.

“Vainglorious and malicious.
Incapable of error, embellishing truth.
Convinced of their own charm and grace.
Exploring a gap beyond reality.”

Epiphanic Truth – An Inescapable Verdict

Dark Triads is the anonymous group’s debut album, which was released on 21st May through Church Road Records. We reviewed it on the site, so if you haven’t read it then jump over here and do that.

We spoke to the band about their lyrical content, musical inspirations, the general state of the world and what to do about it. Erm… and biscuits. (more…)