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TATTOO PARLOR

RGAS TINTE
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Im in the middle of the deadliest age, have passed 27, now Im 30. This means that Im not a rock nor a star and my addiction to things was not strong enough to become one. Nah, I can live with that, theres many great things to do beside of dying at rock star dignified death. Moving fast forward to Mr.Christ age. 3 more years to go, with a great excitement looking forward to this holy age. Hellyeah! ARCHIV HATE is a major accomplishment in my life which I can be proud of - we move mountains with our dreams! Im grateful, that many of you are supporting this small community and believing in what we do supporting underground music scene. Just because we can, we do! #06 magazine issue is about what moves and inspires us. This magazine series continue to share facts about the Latvian underground music scene, written by Inese Tone. NATO serious - support from US, Jason Cantu & Danial Gambler release reviews. + superb interviews! Enjoy! -ARCHIV HATE, October 2013

Music is the shortest way from sane to insane. Mixture of folklore & mythology - the ritual. Our four chambered heart is a mythical creature absorbing an inexhaustible thirst of madness. Feed your abandoned soul with heavy doom of NOMADIC RITUALS.

DO YOU REMEMBER YOURSELF WORKING ON A and a second guitar track, but DEMO RECORDING, HAVE YOU THOUGHT nothing really in the way of ABOUT WHAT HAS CHANGED IN YOUR SOUND? structure. One particular and most The demo feels like it was years ago. noticeable difference to the sound is the massive presence of bass. Niall To sum it up, we did it in an Doran (Sound Engineer/Mixer) afternoon in our practice room. We had no great idea what we were doing suggested we use this homemade large other than making a noise and seeing diameter sub microphone on the bass if it came out on the other side. The cab solely to pick up those lower sound has unmistakably changed due to frequencies. We wanted that huge the nature of the recordings. We had OVERPOWERING SOUND YOU GET LIVE WHICH CAN TOTALLY a sound that was very raw and SATURATE THE LISTENER AND PUT THEM IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT incredibly filthy but we felt that it just wasn't a true representation of PLACE. the music. We wondered about how the It gave the album a huge physical new album would be received given the presence which is why we would strongly encourage playing it on a fact that it sounds noticeably big system at silly volumes. different, but so far we have been given a fairly good reception. IT IS IMPORTANT TO DARE TO SAY WHAT YOU THINK & BELIEVE - WHAT ARE THE 3 SONGS FROM YOUR DEMO INCLUDED IN BASIC THINGS YOU WANTED TO SAY WITH YOUR LATEST RECORD HOLY GIANTS DESPITE THE FACT THAT YOU HATE THESE THE HOLY GIANTS SONG TITLES AND SONGS (ACCORDING TO CHORDBLOSSOM.COM, WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THIS HOLY GIANTS REVIEW). WHAT WAS THE RECORDING? DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMO AND NEW ALBUM Our track themes are a borrowed and RECORDING SESSION? DOES CERTAIN created mixture of folklore & (DEMO) SONGS HAD NEW APPROACH AND mythology, sometimes mixed with ACQUIRED A NEW SOUND SHAPE? satirical commentary on life and the human species (DFWG). We will admit We don't hate the songs themselves we are not profound wordsmiths and but rather the production of them. prefer vagueness and mystery over a When we first recorded the demos we solid statement. I personally favour were actually surprised with the quality we could get playing entirely the ambiguity of our material and feel that it forces the listener to live in one room with everything think a bit deeper and to draw their plugged straight into a digital 8own conclusions. For instance, a lot track. But after a while we grew to dislike them and I think we felt more of media is fed to us with bits of unsatisfied with these tracks, hence information which we readily accept without question; by blatantly not why we were eager to get them retelling people, we aim to mislead the recorded, which was always our audience and force them to form their intention anyway. Maybe some fans prefer the demo versions and maybe we own ideas and conclusions. Whether their conclusions are right or wrong will dust off the old 8-track is not the point. As far as the someday, but at the moment we are message goes, I guess in our own way feeling good about the new album. The songs really hadn't changed much, we are saying that we despise maybe some focus on additional synth peoples actions due to their

selfish, destructive and illogical traits (Burning Planets). This can be somewhat attributed to what really controls them and that is a sense of fear (An Accepted Human Condition) which strives to distort and manipulate their outlook; but what we really want to say is that it doesnt have to actually be like this.
YOU CERTAINLY HAVE HAD AN INTEREST IN NOT ONLY CREATE A MUSIC GREAT IMPORTANCE GOES TO THE ARTWORK THAT UNIQUELY COMPLEMENTS THE HOLY GIANTS. HOW MUCH "HOLY GIANTS" WAS INSPIRED BY THE PLACE IN WHICH YOU LIVE? I think like many other bands our music is not so much about the songs we play but the atmosphere created when we play them. This can be added to in many ways but one of the most obvious is artwork. We spent quite a long time planning and designing all the different elements of our artwork and trying to create a cohesive image for the band. Having two graphic designers in the band was probably a big factor in this too!

WE WANTED THE ALBUM ARTWORK TO REFLECT OUR LYRICAL THEMES AND US AS A BAND.
This naturally led us to a place called Giants Ring in Belfast, an iron age earthwork bank and dolmen. It encapsulated the ancient, the monolithic and the ritualistic aspects of our music as well as keeping our link with Giants. As far as where we live influencing our music, Belfast ends up in the press for all the wrong reasons usually, however this is mostly due to the idiotic minority of its population who still believe stories about a dead man on a cross supposedly some 2000 years ago. I would say a lot of the anger in our music is directed at these small minds and our general dismay at their inability to move forward and progress.

On the other hand the folklore of Ireland has coloured a lot of our music with tales of giants such as Balor or the Fomorians, we like to think of them returning as an avenging force for common sense, rationality and intelligence.

WHAT WAS THE TOUGHEST WORKING ON A NEW RECORD? IS THERE ANY MATERIAL THAT WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE LATEST RECORD? I don't think that anything was particularly tough. NOMADIC RITUALS ON TOUR? We had rehearsed well and were WE HADcompletely REHEARSED WELL AND WERE COMPLETELY FOCUSED focused on getting the Over the next year we are planning to ON GETTING THE RECORD record down. DOWN If anything it was get our world tour of Ireland sorted easier than recording the demo and hopefully a trip around the UK. because everything was set up and Always aspiring to go further afield handled for us, leaving us just to and try our luck at some festivals if play. Nothing was left out because we anyone would have us, please get in worked solely to produce the material contact with us via our Facebook! we had. If we had been unsure about ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD? anything, it would have been scrapped a long time before the sessions. One WE DO STRONGLY SUGGEST LISTENING TO THE "HOLY GIANTS" song in particular that we had been ON A BIG SOUND SYSTEM AT STUPIDLY LOUD VOLUMES. playing live around the time we recorded the demo, we quickly grew to hate. So eventually we chopped it up, mixed it and it became Burning Planets which we are much happier with.

coming out from Ulterior Records/Tapes (http://ulteriortapes.wordpress.com/) in Germany. These will be found on our site as well as various distros, so keep an eye out. No sign of a vinyl release yet! It is probably safe to say it is our life mission to get an album onto such a prestigious format. I guess this is the part where we beg for help ha ha ha...no really, someone help us make this happen.

"HOLY GIANTS" AVAILABLE AS DIGITAL, CD, CASSETTE, VINYL? It is available for download through our bandcamp for free. People have been incredibly nice and given us money for something they could have just taken, so we really appreciate it. On the other hand if you download it for free you are legally obliged to distribute it for us. We also have a limited run of CDs which have been screen-printed by our own fair hands so every one of them is unique and somewhat more personal. There is also a small run of tapes

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NOMADIC RITUALS

EVENTS

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EVENTS

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/EVENTS/331008700367888/

JASON CANTU

GRIME "DETERIORATE FILTHY, NASTY DOOM, A MUDPIT YOU CAN'T ESCAPE, GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY

PRIMITIVE MAN "SCORN DARK AND FUCKING PISSED, YESLET THE HATE FLOW THROUGH YOU, COME JOIN US OR DIE

CARCASS "SURGICAL STEEL I'VE WAITED SO LONG, IT'S EVERYTHING I'VE HOPED FOR, CRYING TEARS OF JOY

HAIKU REVIEWS

GORGUTS "COLORED SANDS I'VE WAITED SO LONG, IT'S EVERYTHING I'VE HOPED FOR, CRYING TEARS OF JOY

VATTNET VISKAR "SKY SWALLOWER" ABRASIVE DISPAIR, IT'S LIKE LIFE AND DEATH COMBINED, DREAM; REALITY

DEAD IN THE DIRT "THE BLIND HOLE *SONG PLAYS ON IPOD*, *MOSHES UP AND DOWN THE BUS*, *WALKS ON DRIVERS HEAD*

LATVIAN CULTURE THE MEDIA

BY INESE TONE ..Latvian underground subculture spread through different distribution routes. Each culture was characterized by their most commonly used form of distribution. The most common and most convenient way was to spread culture through mass media, but in terms of underground culture, it would be foolish and inaccurate to use the term because it included the name of the opposition in the underground culture - the mass. In the early 90s, circulation of information in Latvian underground culture was very slow and irregular. Unlike today, at that time the internet and mobile phones were not widely available. Flow of information was mainly in the form of letters and other postal form - cassette, zines, and so on. NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES Underground culture-related publications can be divided into several levels. The mainstream culture extended to magazines *Liesma (Flame) and *Draugs (Friend). Information was irregular, however, from time to time there appeared some underground culture related article. At this level occasionally the major newspapers contained some information. For example, a newspaper *Rgas Balss (Riga Voice), published on Wednesdays, featured an article entitled *ieelis (Brick), written by Raitis Sametis (at the beginning of 90s, Raitis Sametis for a short time also wrote about music to the newspaper *Pilsta (City)). Uldis Rudaks wrote about music to *Diena (The Day) newspaper and its annexes *Izklaide (Entertainment) and *Sestdiena (Saturday), in the late 90s Sandris Vanzovis to *Neatkarg Rta Avze (Independent Daily Newspaper).

UNDERGROUND

Another worth mentioning FF magazine, which began to come out in the late 90s, had a good polygraphic, on average 80 pages, which provided information on foreign independent bands, extreme sports, lifestyle and sometimes an article devoted to Latvian musicians. For example the 1999 June edition appeared an article called Underground vs. Mainstream, comparing such bands as Inokentijs Mrpls and *Prta Vtra (Brainstorm). Later in 99 the magazine went bankrupt. The FF magazine unofficial sequel was stylistically and substantively similar Veto Magazine, Jnis Volkinteins successfully continues to issue new magazine series. The other ones, such newspapers as *Pastnieku Iela (Postman Street), *Pastnieku Avnija (Postman Avenue), *Parks (The Park), *Iela (The Street), *101 Avnija (101 Avenue), Una and similar newspapers which, although not very popular, were actively acquired and read by the younger generation. Information on these publications is diverse and kaleidoscopic. Mostly wrote about foreign musicians, in addition, one work can be found next to the articles about good independent musicians and artists from the very pinnacle of the mainstream. If these publications were written about Latvian musicians, they were inevitably compared with foreign musicians. Often these comparisons were inaccurate. However, this magazine role in the development of Latvian music is undeniable, as it was at least some kind of source of information - what each did with the information was in his hands. An example is Kuldgas underground scene member Edgar Embergs article Kas tad ir tas NEKAC? - Things of interest to us at the time were slightly affected in two public press - Pastnieku Iela (later Pastnieku Avnija) and music newspaper Una.

Zines was the inextricable link with the underground culture. This part is difficult to identify, because these were not published officially, they had a very small print run, so it would be futile to look for them in the library archives. Zines were a very interesting part of the underground culture as it has been created by underground culture representatives, where you can read about what they thought, what was worth describing. Mostly they featured

different articles record reviews, other zine criticism, gig reviews, interviews and translated texts about foreign bands or articles on social and political topics. Zines were considered as the DIY culture. Usually made by hand, often handwritten and reproduced in black and white A4 pages. Most important of them Dga, Tora Orgns (Rga, Tornis), *Vilks (Wolf), SOS in Big (Kuldga, KAMPA, NeKAC), Bezumec (Salaspils, Kos), *Miera Tors (Peace Thor) (Smiltene), Debil Farmer (Rga, Mikimauss), likely there were also many others. Poor quality zine copies were difficult to read as they could be written in easy to understand handwriting but article writers often did not find it necessary to subscribe and pages werent numbered. The information was very heterogeneous. I mentioned some interesting but unconfirmed facts about Bezumec. Bezumec zine, published in Russian. It has become a powerful source of influence to zine publishers in Russia, and was the first punk / hc zine in Russia. It is better quality than the other riveted sheets, pages numbered, information and layout easily understandable. And thanks to Artrs Jakovevs (aka. Apdjs), I got my hands on an interesting edition of Tales of Beverin - The Only Zine Of Unlight Music In Latvia (volume #1 the dawn of 1997), which is significantly different from the classic DIY zines, proudly written on the cover 40 A4 pages and more than 120 pictures. The zine is entirely in English, features Latvian and foreign metal bands, record reviews and interviews. As summary of the press, I want to offer an article from Vilks zine - Small reflection of the Latvian rock publicists an abridged version 1. Most regular - some rock news from Rgas

Balss, Wednesdays brick. Its a good idea, unless the author Sametis R. would be absolutely incompetent in matters of which he writes. He and his fantastically complex artistic endeavour epithets to describe music becomes devilishly funny. In addition, quite unforgivable is the fact mixing.

2. Absolutely chaotic Draugs zine articles, where equally coexist Grindmaster Dead, girls' puberty problems, Bet Bet tips for anglers and Joy Division. In addition, materials published in the zine is out of date. 3. Iela - totally unpalatable edition. Total pop, although it also has people interest who would like to freshen up with an old or current indie punk band biographies. This can all be read in encyclopedias, it is not of interest to the reader. 4. Century of great frustration - Pastnieka Avnija with insufferable Agnis Buds in the tip. The long-awaited first number that looks like a Draugs zine good printed version. No trace of the former distinctive style. Well as seen - really nothing. It is very sad, even in front of Lithuanian brothers. There almost every issue is better, more or less. Logically, the main obstacle here is the publishing options, but it does not prevent to make a magazine layout, xerox copy a few dozen copies.
Keen and accurate expression, often without holding firmly to the Latvian language norms, is common in zine articles. As for zines it tends to be, article has not signed by author, but most likely it was created by Edgar Embergs.

TRANSLATE RAY WILLMAN, ARTURS VILMANIS

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Danial

SEQUENCE 5, FUTURESEQUENCE
VA COMPILATION 2013
So I was digging around somewhere one day when I came across this. 42 songs of ambient, experimental or whatever people want to call it these days. I'm old so I still call it ambient. The page says it's experimental but I don't really consider this experimental. It feels more ambient to me. Live footage of say Merzbow, that's experimental to me. Old Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire that's experimental to me. Even though lots of others say they're industrial but meh, whatever. Anyway, if you feel like getting your mellow on and get lost in the various regions of space in your head. This is some really good stuff to listen to while doing it. Or even while sitting around at a coffee shop starting at the sky. It would be good for that too. Plus there are 42 tracks so you don't have to hit repeat, unless you want to. So check it out. If you like mellow electronic stuff it's worth giving a listen to.

KLGA
DEMO2012
So I guess this was released a year and a half or so ago. January 25th, 2012. I just found this today. Interesting black metal if you consider what they do black metal. I guess it has one of the guys from Panopticon in it. Not bad stuff. A half hour or so of listening to it and I didn't get bored with it. I don't know a lot of newer black metal I usually get bored with pretty easily. But this one I didn't. But then again it's debatable if you want to consider it black metal. RABM is where I guess it would fall under if you had to place it somewhere. But yeah, something really worth giving a listen. I was quite surprised with it.

GRAVESTONE
DEMO2013
The first song "Behead the Bastard" reminds me of Stormcrow. Which kind of makes me think. Is Sweden getting more crusty/dbeat or is crust/d-beat getting more Swedish? Hah! Anyway, good stuff. The second song "Rotten Kill" is some classic sounding Swedish Death Metal. Check it out if you like that sort of thing, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Gambler

MEPHORASH
CHALICE OF THAGIRION2012
So I think it was a couple weeks ago when I first downloaded this. Since then it has been a constant on my playlist. Really fucking great black metal. Or as Jon Ndtveidt (RIP) of the infamous Dissection likes to call metal such as this, "Blackened metal of death". Either way, this is some fucking bad ass stuff. Not as technical as say Dissectionis. But the brutality, the ferocity, and all the other fun words used to describe black metal are there. So be sure to listen if you like your metal black, brutal, and cold. Oh they also released a 10" vinyl this year also. Mephorash - Opus Serpens There's a link for that on the page. Give that a listen also.

SAGORITH
WITHIN DIABOLIC REALMS: DEMO2010
Well fuck, it seems as though black metal has entered the Navajo Reservation. No more native american flute music for these guys. Although I'm sure that will enter their music as the years pass. Just some straight cold black metal from the hot deserts of the Navajo Rez. Well the summers are hot, winters are kind of chilly. But anyway, musically it's mostly only 2 songs that are actually cold black metal. Northern Plague and Journey From Darkness. The other two (It's a 4 song demo) are instrumental acoustic. Really good stuff. I'm surprised that this is coming from the reservation. Most everyone I know down that way are either all "gangsta" or just being I guess some what normal. Normal as you can be for being Navajo and trying to keep traditions alive. But yeah check it out. I was highly impressed with it.

NICK MILLEVOI
IN WHITE SKY2012
Dang how to describe this? Catchy, Drony, Ambient, Noise, Something. Something really great to listen to while smoking some weed and it's raining outside and you happen to be in the Seattle or where ever it's mostly cloudy. I didn't really know what to expect when I checked this out. I was hoping from some doom. But instead I got something else. Really cool really catchy stuff, if you like droning guitar and ambient noise. Really worth giving a listen to. Especially after smoking a bowl and while watching the clouds pass over head on a wet rainy day. Or at least that's what it reminds me of anyway. I'll let you decide, give it a listen though.

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/LUCIANANEDELEAART

Art and obsession to it can led us to the right decisions, to something that we had meant to be. Story about the Transylvanian dark art master - Luciana Nedelea.
+ WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO? My full name is Luciana Nedelea, and I currently live in Transylvania. During my lifetime Ive been drawn to four main subjects which seem to be the pillars of my life: Music, Art, History and Spirituality. These four subjects inspire me continuously. I began studying violin/piano/music in my early years, at the age of 7, when I was also introduced to art. Since it was a school for music and art I was always surrounded by artists and I was really fascinated by them. As I grew up, after studying violin for eight years, even though I loved it very much, I felt like I had to do something I felt a stronger connection to. That was the moment when I decided to study Art, at the age of 14. When I graduated Highschool, I then made another decision which would later have a big impact on my work: I decided that the only thing I wanted to become, was an archaeologist and I am currently also applying for PHD in the same field (History and Civilization/Archaeology). Studying does take a lot from my free time, but I try to draw/paint every free minute I have. + WHEN DID YOU DISCOVERED THAT CREATING SOMETHING IS WHAT YOU HAD TO DO? WHAT INSPIRED YOU? As an infant I would always draw, butchering my fathers favorite books by drawing stick princesses on the pages. It is something I was born to do, something that was meant to be a big part of my life. As Nietzsche once said Without music, life would be a mistake, for me life without art would be rather trist and useless. It is a form of expressing myself. The people that inspire me to create art come from various fields, not only art. At first, as a teenager I had an obsession with Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance artists and later on I was fascinated by Salvador Dali, Gustave Dore, Gustave Moreau, Zdzislaw Beksinski, Edward Gorey, Michael Hussar, Alex Grey, William Blake, Francis Bacon and so on. Other people that were a true inspiration for me and dont exactly fit in the art field but they are related to sacred geometry/occultism: Giordano Bruno, Johannes Kepler, Aleister Crowley and many others.

+YOUR ARTWORK REPRESENT A VARIETY OF ART STYLES, EACH HAVE A DIFFERENT ONE - FAUVE, DADAISM, SURREALISM, EXPRESSIONISM. WHAT ART DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH? I work with a lot of styles, I do not like to stick with only one technique, and everything I do should come naturally. If an idea requires a certain style, then I will express it with the best technique that will capture its main essence. But if you were to analyze my current works, I would say that surrealism defines them best. +SKULLS & BONES, SIGILS AND DARK CREATURES - THEMES YOU PURSUE?

I work with themes that will express an archaic feeling, bordering the occult. You will see a lot of alchemical/hermetic/occult symbols in my work, ancient writing and languages, subjects from different ancient religions and civilizations. I like to paint my concepts about life and death and everything related to it. I always put all my knowledge into my artworks, everything I deem worthy of being put into a beautiful context and shape. My works are materializations of my thoughts. The dark creatures, I would say they are mostly demons or gods and I would never really go into kitsch, drawing something I came up with. It is mostly themes that are very well documented and you will always find a hidden message in my drawings/paintings. I like it when I am able to get people to stop for a few minutes to look at my work and to think, to link all the forms and symbols with each other, which will eventually communicate a message to them.
+YOU WORKED WITH SUCH BANDS AS ENBILULUGUGAL (BLACK METAL/NOISE US), COLDBORN (ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL - BELGIUM), DELIRIO OCCULTO (BLACK METAL/ITALY) AND FISTULA (SLUDGE/DOOM US) THESE ARE ON YOUR DAILY PLAYLIST? My daily playlist looks a bit different. I started working with bands only one year ago and it is mostly requests from the bands/band members. They always tell me what the main idea is and I try to work with it. I must be honest that before they came to me, I didnt know about the existence of some of the bands I worked with, they are mainly underground metal bands. On the other hand I felt honoured when the guys from Fistula and Highland asked me to work with them, I was and still am a fan of their work and you will find that indeed in my playlist.

+WHATS YOUR FAVORITE THING YOUVE EVER CREATED? They are all favorites in a way, but I am really proud recent artwork, which was made for Highland (Black Metal/ is a t-shirt/poster design which represents the 7 princes for their 2013 album and future concerts. You can find it Official Page on FB. of my USA). It of hell, on their

+THINKING YOU'RE IMMORTAL IS WEIRDLY SIMILAR TO BEING IMMORTAL. - DOUG COUPLAND. WHICH OF THE REAL TIME ARTISTS SHOULD BE IMMORTAL? I will be a snob and very honest and will say: Myself. I dont want my tombstone to be the only thing that will remind of my existence. I want to live forever with the help of my art.

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/LUCIANANEDELEAART

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

LUCIANA NEDELEA ARTWORKS

www.wastedrita.com

Drawing on a diversity of influences, SYNSOPHONY are not scared to betray their love of music of all types: from metal to electronica to classical - in an effort to make music that is as psychedelic as it is terrifying.

SYNSOPHONY IS A DUO HAILING FROM THE UK, FORMED EARLY IN 2013. WHATS THE HISTORY OF THE BAND? TOM Both Ollie and myself are university students, and met at uni. Basically, Id spent a vacation fiddling around with some recordings, and had created something I felt was pretty cool. I got Ollie in on it, and the suggestions and additions he made led to the first Synsophony demo. From there, we got in touch with Acephale Winter, and the rest is history.

the band was/is an illustrator, and so we combined music and art. With that we got Earnest and the Pea (the name of the band, and the 2 characters we wrote about) a band creating music which followed 2 alien space agents, and their mission to earth. A very different sort of psychedelic to Synsophony, far more light hearted, but just as experimental. The drawings were great fun too.

KARMIC EXISTENCE IS DARK PSYCHEDELIC 23 MINUTE LONG MADNESS CREATED WITH CELLO, HARMONICA, HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE BAND GUITARS, PIANO, VOCALS. NAME? TOM Youll have to forgive a bit of TOM Exactly we place our main word play on this one It all began emphasis on the psychedelic, but both with Sisyphus, the unfortunate Greek being inspired by industrial/dark ambient/black metal, the psychedelic who for the rest of eternity is rolling a boulder up a hill, only for we create tends to be pretty dark and evil! I am currently really it to roll back down and kill him. interested in how repetition can Mix his name with symphony, add an n for nicer pronunciation, and create a very psychedelic effect for example, I find Phillip Glass you get Synsophony. After all, we were naming a project about to debut Metamorphoses simply mesmerizing. So yes, I hope to incorporate with a 23 minute long experimental repetitious song structure and riffs drone right? into industrial, dark ambient music, WHAT DREW YOU TO AMBIENT / DRONE / hopefully with a psychedelic outcome! NOISE? DID YOU HAVE ANY PROJECTS OLLIE Yeah, I think we used our BEFORE THE SYNSOPHONY? instruments to good effect in the EP. OLLIE Not really: I'd jammed with In future releases, I think it'd be mates in the past, but never got any nice to hear the instruments stand serious project together, and out in their own right a little more, certainly nothing in this vein. I've maybe incorporate melodies and a more always enjoyed really immersive, natural sound. We'll see. weird-sounding things, though, and BLOG-WORLD FLOODED KARMIC when I heard what Tom had put together so far I loved the sound and EXISTENCE WITH TONS OF GOOD REVIEWS. YOUR FAVOURITE COMMENTS ON atmosphere of it, and the way it THIS PARTICULAR RELEASE? seemed to swallow you up, and I was honoured to be a part of it. TOM Ah, its tricky, especially as we are grateful to all the bloggers TOM I used to be in a very casual, who took time to listen to, and write largely improvised psychedelic about our EP! The bloggers which concept band. The other main guy in

OLLIE

offer us criticism are always most appreciated, as it shows that they have put a lot of thought into our music. Black Metal and Brews likened our EP to the collapse of reality, and a descent into madness, which Ollie and I both enjoyed and agreed with! OLLIE I really enjoyed that too, just knowing we'd done what we set out to do. I also rather enjoyed The Siren's Sound's comments wherein they pointed out that, while Karmic Existence is very angsty and harrowing, it really can be quite relaxing if you feel like immersing yourself in something dark and abstract. Cause it's true, if you're willing to go with it, that evil sound can be quite relaxing in a strange sort of way.
WHOS BEHIND THE COVER ART OF KARMIC EXISTENCE? ITS RELEASED ONLY DIGITALLY, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT OUT ON VINYL, PACKED IN A WOODEN BOX, WITH BURNED IN SYMBOLS, LOOKING AMAZING. TOM An artist called Talia Robertson. She studies at the same college as Ollie and me; Cambridge is a hub for artists, so were really lucky in that respect! We are currently experimenting with physical formats in fact most likely a gatefold floppy disk (!) But yes, Talias artwork is fantastic, and I too would love to see it in physical format. Amish Gir also deserves a big mention for kindly designing our logo. OLLIE Yeah, Talia and Amish have been fantastic with creating some awesome art to accompany our music. Talia makes a lot of wood-burns and such, and we've linked to her shop, PictsieCrafts, from our Facebook if you're interested. A physical release would be awesome, and vinyl is the

PHOTO BY THEA HAWLIN

COVER BY TALIA CLAIRE ROBERTSON

TIM

dream: Tom and I are both big fans of vinyl, and we've already discussed how a physical release in a handburned wooden box would be something we'd love to do, so with any luck we'll be able to do exactly the sort of thing you're after: a run of vinyls/cassettes in unique boxes with full album art, each one hand-burned. Keep your eyes peeled for stuff like that!

idea about our future release plans, and I hope that you guys wont be disappointed with what we have lined up! In terms of our musical direction, I think Synsophony is gonna both head down a more experimental route, whilst also incorporating more noticeably metal elements. So yes, look out for that! OLLIE Yep, we've got some awesome stuff in the pipeline. What's cool is that, while we've been really HOW MUCH HAVE YOU PLAYED THIS MUSIC pleasantly surprised and humbled by LIVE? the reception we've had for the EP, TOM Synsophony have never played we're also a group where nobody live, and I dont think well ever really has a rigid idea of what we perform the EP. We have played around should be, so we can really push the with more guitar orientated music, envelope and explore the concepts and more traditional I guess, so emotions we want to bring about with maybe thatd be better suited to our music from different angles. playing live. That's not to say we don't want to OLLIE Yeah, the EP was recorded in a keep any characteristics or an basement on largely borrowed gear: if identifiable sound, but we have a lot we did anything live, we'd have to of free creative rein, so we're look into getting other musicians really excited to see what directions involved and deciding what should go we can take the project and how we on a backing track, as well as can push the envelope of what a getting hold of the gear to actually psychedelic dark ambient act might be perform. The EP will probably never expected to be. Also I think we're be performed live, but that's not to both very excited to get some say that our stuff will always be physical releases out there! solely in the medium of recorded music: Tom had the idea of setting up a whole sensory experience, which would take place in a small room, coupled with visual art and the tactile sense of a small, claustrophobic room, in a gallerylike context. Something like that could really do some cool stuff with the listener's senses and emotions, and I'd love it if we could put together something like that.
WHAT GOALS DO YOU HAVE FOR SYNSOPHONY? WHAT YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR THE FUTURE? TOM Ollie and I have a pretty good

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