Carcassbomb wrote in his review: "Ocultum has a lo-fi approach to their music that I find really intriguing, with vocals more suited to raw black metal than doom metal. It's oddly endearing and prevents it from going the same stale route as many other bands currently are, with the wide Mastodon/Gojira vocal styling. There's something different here, it's dark and it's anti-marketing in its presence." After reading this I had to ask some usual questions but what I got back from Sebastian Bruna (vocals/guitars) was more than I expected.

Tomek

Thanks for taking time to do this Sebastian, how are things in Ocultum right before the release of "Residue" on vinyl?

Hi Tomek! How are you bro? Right now, we're preparing to release the vinyl version of Residue!!! That's a big step for us, we deliver some fucked up doom and no childish tales of false rock n' roll, so expect something legendary! Also, we're preparing a new album… yes, a new album, and just expect more heavy riffs and insane atmosphere fueled by heavy thinking and dope!!

Let's talk about "Residue" a bit, how long did you work on it and how was the whole process?

The basic composition of these songs was made by me a long time ago, then we developed the songs into something more cohesive with the drummer, who found exactly the beat and attack of these songs, then the bassist put his atmosphere and heaviness and we came to our tone and rhythm. The process was great! Highly stoned and focused on getting what we wanted, we kicked a lot of asses with our music when it came out, so now we're cool. Residue took something like 6 months to be ready. The recording was extremely easy, we smoke a lot of weed and drank massive amounts of coffee, we play with sounds, amps and effects and achieve the tone that make scene's legs trembling hahahaha

You mentioned that new album is in the works, what can bangers expect from it?

Endless kicks to your skull in the form of slowed down punishment and sound degeneration that opens portals to cosmic misery and that will make you reborn understanding that we come to stay and burn good weed ... and that this does not stop!!!

Why "Residue"? Is there a specific meaning behind the title?

Residue, as its name implies, expands its concept to a lot of uncomfortable matters for the citizen well embedded in the system. Initially the toxic waste, the shit that the human being has allowed to flow on the planet, both chemical and spiritual, so this residue expands day by day in front of the sight and patience of governments and militias, we are so screwed up that you wonder if finally the waste is you too, being the last of the chain, the drug addict on the street, the one who eats from the garbage and those who are segregated for being different. Then the concept becomes one. The cocaine that reaches our country is hardly cocaine, and the residue of this fake cocaine has thousands of zombies smoking in the streets: They are the residue of the residue. And so, those who have a better life at the expense of others, are the residue of the monetary system and treat the rest as waste. The cover says it all ... a scavenger bird eating human remains.

Was all this shit an inspiration to you when you were writing? What was your frame of mind when composing?

I think without a doubt the state of mind came from heavy drug use, but the main inspiration comes from the underlying feeling. Sometimes sadness, many others an irrepressible rage for unjust acts in my life and in the world in which we live. Situations from the past too, brutal experiences of other people, stories from people I've known and some Buddhist legends about monks singing while organs are removed from a dead person...

Was there anything that influenced you differently while composing?

In fact, a lot of blues. A lot of older blues ... a lot of horror and war movie influence. Pink Floyd, Melvins, ELP ... to name some of the many non-metal bands that influence me.

What is Ocultum? What is the story behind the name?

I'm a heavy reader so I found this strange concept that the earth has an entrance to know a hidden civilization, the VITRIOL has this words "Occultum Lapidem" attached to it, so I cut into Occultum and to make it more unique I erase the C. I like that all the things that they fear is occult. Any taboo, drug or illegal action. So we're part of that. We are those they fear. The Ocultum.

Some guys out there like to put tags on bands and so you ended up with ‘doom' tag. What do you think about all this categorizing and putting tags on music?

I think it is necessary so that you can search for the music that you like, but when it influences what music, you want to make, most fall into the formula. They believe they have to play in a way to maintain this label. Unfortunately, in Chile this is the case, so Ocultum is seen as an expatriate band ... we take the risk of doing something beyond labeling.

What would you call it yourself?

A heavy dose of mixed lethal slow metal and blues maelstrom doom hahahaaha! Just the expression of 3 regular men that likes slow and heavy music.

Do you create for yourself or for others?

The very questioning of this is a problem that must be eradicated. I see this shit as a very powerful shit that should come out no matter what, not remain floating as something possible or mouldable, not think that it pleases someone or me, sometimes the energy you have to create something does not have much of thought, but more of action.

What do you expect from the listener?

Your first honest reaction. If you listen to it again, your attention. If you listen to it for the third time, your support. If all this happens the first time you listen, welcome! If you don't like it, fuck off!

Do you play to build or to destroy? Which emotions contribute the most?

We play the sound to edificate a crumbling. Hate with the outside world, and a lot of resentment with the way the world is ruled. A lot of hate for shit talk people. Very few sadness and grief.

What would you do without music?

If I stopped being a musician, I would go back to being a writer, maybe an actor, or a serial killer. Something that causes deep emotions.

Where do you see yourself and the band in next 5-7 years, what are the plans for the future?

Have 5-7 more albums, travel the world to play our music, meet people who support us and create communities around our music. The plan is to continue non-stop; we have a lot of music!! Make lots of friends and continue on this path to the end. Right now, we are about to release an EP ... which we are seeing will become an LP hahahaa, we are trying to make shorter songs, but we are still in the "trip" format! That and playing live outside of Chile, outside of South America, outside the planet. Also, we have another album ready… we have a lot of stuff to record.

Thanks a lot for taking time to answer all the questions, last word is yours.

SMOKE! FUCK!! FUZZ!!! DOOM!!!!

Japanese Significant Point released their superb debut album "Into The Storm" via the German label Dying Victims Productions (review here) recently. It's an album that puts you in a good mood while listening to it and also makes you want more. Buuuut... it took those guys ten years to release it. That's already two reasons to ask the band more about it and also to be a little critical. The two guitarists of the band, Gou Takeuchi and Kazuki Kuwagaki have taken the time to answer my questions in detail. Many thanks for that gentlemen! Enjoy the interview.

Michael

Hey, how are you guys doing? Thanks for taking the time for the interview!

Gou and Kazuki: Hello! We are doing very well, thank you for giving us the interview!

In my opinion with "Into The Storm" you have released a super cool album that makes you feel good. What is the feedback you get about the album?

Kazuki: We have got a number of reviews and interviews. We are just feeling happy that people in overseas countries are listening to our album and giving us great responses. We have taken 10 years until we release our first album, but I'm very happy that we could make it this far. We'd like to say thank you to all the people who supported us thus far.

Gou: Thank you very much. I am very satisfied with the album's quality. It's been 10 years since we formed the band, and the album contains the entire history of the band so far. The theme of this album was to create an album with a perfect mix of fast songs, melodious songs, and many other variations, like a storybook. It was a very challenging experience for me, but I'm glad I was able to make it work. I am happy that we were able to release the album. We would like to thank all the people who supported and helped us to get to this point.

When I listen to the CD, I have a feeling of hearing Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Blind Guardian on speed. Am I right or are there other influences that have crept onto the album?

Gou: All those bands you mentioned are ones I like! Let me tell you about my musical influences. I am strongly influenced by hard rock as well as heavy metal, so I think my melodic side from the hard rock influence comes into my songs naturally. The guitarist I admire the most is Michael Schenker. I grew up listening to his guitar solos on 'Rock Bottom', 'Love To Love', 'Looking For Love', etc. I love his emotional guitar sound. When I was a teenager, I used to listen to his guitar and analyze it every day. In terms of guitar orchestration, I'm also influenced by Brian May. As for bands, I was greatly inspired by Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Savage Grace, Metal Church, Cloven Hoof, Shok Paris, Liege Lord, Sinner, Agent Steel, Sortilege, Omen, Grim Reaper, Rainbow, Scorpions, UFO, MSG. etc. In terms of Japanese bands, Loudness, Wolf, Aion, Anthem, Dementia, Crowley, X, Prowler, Hurry Scuary, Vow Wow, Mari Hamada, Kuni, Flatbacker, Earthshaker and Salem have a large influence on me.

What are your lyrics about? From reading the titles I'd say they absolutely fit into the traditional heavy metal mould.

Kazuki: I basically make the lyrics in English. Sometimes I create the content from the beginning, and sometimes I base it on images that Gou created in Japanese. There is not one particular theme, but I think I am influenced by Japanese manga and Hollywood movies. For instance, in 'Riders Under The Sun', I was inspired by the Japanese manga Initial D and Beck, and the Hollywood movie "The Fast And The Furious". Also, in all the lyrics, I tried to give them a cool sound. I am not a native speaker, so there were some aspects that were difficult, but I was able to make something that I was satisfied with.

I find the cover of the CD mega cool, this was also my first reason to listen to the CD. Is that to be understood as a kind of homage to old Japanese monster movies?

Gou: Thank you very much. As for the concept of cover art, the monster is the band's mascot character and has appeared on the previous 7" EP. We may have been potentially influenced by Godzilla. Since the previous 7” EP portrayed monsters attacking people, I wanted to see the opposite this time: people standing up to the monsters. I also thought it would be cool to express the fierceness of heavy metal with intense lightning and raging seas. I had already decided to include the sound of thunder in the beginning of the title track, 'Into The Storm', and I knew that it would be an important part of the album. So, I wanted to reflect the image of this song in the cover art. We asked Mario E Lopez M to draw the cover art for this album. We gave him a brief sketch and image, and he drew a cover art that fits our musical style perfectly. We feel very happy to have worked with him.

You have two of the three songs on the album that have already been released on your 2014 demo and as a single in 2018 and now released again on the album. Do you have a lack of ideas in terms of songwriting?

Gou: The reason why I put 'Attacker' and 'Danger Zone' on the album is because they are very important songs for the band. I wrote these two songs 10 years ago when I was 18 or 19 years old, and they were the first songs that I could feel confident in. These songs are very special to me, and we always play them at our live shows, and they are one of the most exciting songs. These two songs have given us many things. That's why I had decided to include these two songs in the full album since a long time ago. As for 'Attacker', the arrangement of the guitar solo has changed dramatically since the demo. The previous 7" EP also contains a version of the song after the arrangement, but now we can play it more quickly and aggressively, so I wanted to record it again with our best performance ever.

I have lots of ideas for songs. I'm constantly working on new songs. But I try to provide the band with only the good ones that meet my own standards. I myself am very excited to see what kind of songs we will be able to create in the future.

How did it happen that you have only released one studio album all this time?

Kazuki: Heavy metal is a minor genre in Japan, especially old school metal, and there are very few young people who play this music. Therefore, when a member leaves the band, it takes a long time, sometimes several years, to find the next member. In our band, after the initial members left, the remaining members, Gou and I, continued to search for members for a long time. During the time we also went to a studio and played, and, I don't know why, but we went around to secondhand stores to look at used guitars. I think we might have wanted to do something for the band. From this kind of circumstance, it took 10 years for us to release our first album, but the quality of this album is very satisfying, and we are very happy to have made it this far.

Some of your current and former members are also active in Evil. That's a pretty different kind of metal. How does it come about?

Gou: As you know, the drummer also plays in Evil. I also played guitar in Evil for a while. Our musical styles are very different, but it's very exciting to be exposed to different kinds of music. I've also learned a lot of approaches to guitar playing that I've never tried before. I was like, "Wow! I didn't know there was such an approach!" It was so fun and a great experience that helped me grow. So, playing with Evil was a great experience. I also think that even though they and we have different musical styles, we have something in common in terms of our essence. It's hard to put into words what it is, but anyway I think they play exciting and great music.

Why did you have to resort to guest vocalist George Itoh, who also sings with Risingfall and Military Shadow? Doesn't anyone want to have the position as a permanent singer?

Kazuki: Since Significant Point does not have an official vocalist at the moment, we asked George to record vocals for the album. Risingfall, Military Shadow and Significant Point are close friends, and George is also a friend of the band members, so we asked him. We can trust his abilities and personality. Even though he did not have enough time to prepare and practice, he did that amazing job with great quality. I also learned a lot from how he sang the lyrics I wrote. It was a real pleasure to work with him. As mentioned above, it takes time to find members for a metal band in Japan. We are still in the process of looking for a new vocalist.

One of the things that really impresses me about the album is the guitars. Was it planned from the beginning that you put guitar solos so much in the foreground?

Gou: That's right. I think the emphasis on guitar playing is one of the major strengths of Significant Point, this approach came naturally. I write guitar solos with the mindset that they are "another song within a song". As for my approach to playing guitar solos, I think that technique and theory are very important, but I believe that the most important priority is the quality of the melody. Technique is just a way to assist in playing the melody, and I play the guitar with two things in mind: feeling of the moment and playing a good melody. In the world of music, each person has a different feeling, and the right answer is different for each person. For this reason, I believe that making music is a way of confronting oneself. I try to create songs and guitar solos with a clear standard for myself in order to have consistency in my music.

Significant Point as well as Evil are both signed to the German label Dying Victims Productions. How satisfied are you with the label, which is known for its pretty cool bands?

Gou: We are honored to release our album on Dying Victims Productions. We were thinking of starting work on the album in 2019 and Dying Victims Productions offered us the opportunity to release the album at that time. They have always kindly supported us, and we are very happy to be able to work with them. Japan is a country where there are very few old school heavy metal bands. But in Europe, I think there are a lot of bands. So, I have always been longing for the European scene. I was very happy when I got the offer.

Which bands from Japan can you recommend to us?

Kazuki: For example, for younger bands, I would recommend Risingfall, Military Shadow, and Hell Freezes Over. Of course, there are many more great bands out the in Japan, heavy metal is a minor genre and the underground scene is very small. So, I was very happy and grateful that the overseas scene paid attention to us with this release. I hope that the Japanese scene will become more active in the future, and that Japanese metal scene will attract more attention not only from Japan, but also from the overseas scenes. To that end, I hope our activities will contribute to the revitalization of the Japanese scene.

Gou: There are many great bands in Japan, such as Risingfall, Military Shadow, Hell Freezes Over, Evil, Bafomet, The Blue Scream, Chase The Top, and many more. I recommend these bands. If you are interested, listen to them! Of course, there are many more great bands in Japan.

Last but not least, the last words belong to you!!!

Gou and Kazuki: We hope that many people will listen to our album. This album is the culmination of everything we've done so far and contains 10 of the best songs in the 10 years since the band formed. All the members have given it everything. We believe that this album is filled with intense speed metal, melodic songs, splendid twin leads, and a lot of attractiveness. We hope you will check out the album Into the Storm!

Thank you very much for the interview!

Gou and Kazuki: Thank you very much too! Take care of your health!

German Temple Of Dread from the lovely North Sea coast has recently released their third album "Hades Unleashed". In my eyes this is one of the best German death metal releases (at least) in 2021 (review can be found here). The trio got even more brutality and technical skills into their music than on its predecessor "World Sacrifice" from 2020. I asked guitarist/bass player Markus Bünnemeyer some questions about the album and the reasons for their unbelievable creativity.

Michael

Hello Markus, how are you?

Hello Michael, thank you very much, all is well. I'm in an extremely pleasant post-release phase right now! (laughs)

You have been received quite euphorically in the metal press with the new album "Hades Unleashed". Did you expect so much positive feedback?

While composing the riffs for Hades Unleashed I had the feeling a few times that the finished songs could develop into quite crashers. But I didn't expect that Jens with his vocals and Jörg with his drumming and especially with his production could get so much out of the songs. When I heard the final result for the first time, I was completely flattened and absolutely thrilled. So, I'm not completely surprised - but I'm even more pleased - that this is also seen by the critics and fans.

How did it come about that you were already at the start with the successor just one year after the second album "World Sacrifice"? Did you have so much boredom?

Personally, I rather wonder why certain bands take several years to write and record their albums. Temple Of Dread has an incredibly productive and goal-oriented way of working. I write songs for myself first and then prepare them accordingly for the others in my studio. Jörg and Jens then think about their parts and certain arrangements. Finally, we go through the recordings in 2-3 weeks. Of course, it is also a great advantage that Jörg is the owner of Soundlodge Studio.

Jens sounds more aggressive on the album than ever. What did you do to him to make him sound like that?

Beer withdrawal! (laughs) Seriously, Jens has been able to improve his technique incredibly and feels increasingly confident on the mic (he's actually a guitarist in Slaughterday). He puts an incredible amount of emphasis on phrasing, pronunciation and accentuation. On top of that, he just has an incredibly cool voice that fits Temple's style perfectly.

Musically you are much more complex than on the two previous albums, one can also hear more influences than the usual death metal influences, for example Voivod or Kreator. Was that intended from the beginning?

I always go part by part when writing the songs. When I start with a riff, I usually can't tell if it's going to be a fast, simple song or a more "tricky" one. I experiment a lot with different beats and of course sometimes I think - "Hey! Here a Kreator part would fit well!" I also like the slightly offset and weird-sounding harmonies brand Voivod, which you can find in the DM sector more often with Pestilence.

How did you come up with the idea of using Greek mythology as a basis for the lyrics?

It's not so easy to come up with lyrics that are not completely worn out. We simply don't like anti-religious, mass murderer, Sumerian, ancient Egyptian, splatter or gore themes. Greek mythology is teeming with cool creatures, places or stories. Expressions like Acheron, Hades or Necromanteion are death metal in pure form!

"Hades Unleashed" was traditionally recorded in the Soundlodge Studio of your drummer Jörg. Was there ever any doubt about it, or is that a fixed institution for you, come what may?

There is and never was any doubt about that. Jörg is the best death metal producer in Germany and also our drummer and friend. Furthermore, recording with him is completely uncomplicated. As long as HE doesn't want to record in another studio, we certainly won't change anything.

You live on the North Sea island Spiekeroog. Outside the vacation season, it's pretty, let's say, tranquil there. What do you do there? Writing new songs?

For example! But I actually also enjoy the peace and solitude here on the island - even in lockdown. I'm interested in nature, go fishing and bird watching. I've lived here for 21 years and have actually hardly ever felt bored.

Can we expect your fourth album next summer?

At the moment there is a problem of a completely different kind: the vinyl pressing factories are completely overloaded and have announced lead times of almost a year. Even if we had a new album ready in spring, we probably wouldn't manage to release it next year. Nevertheless - or just because of that - I'm already working eagerly on new songs.

What about concerts and festivals? The fourth wave of Corona throws a lot of plans into confusion again, but are there any events in the near future?

Temple Of Dread have not played any live gigs so far. This is due to different problems, for example our activities in other bands and my "special" place of living. So, we are hardly affected by the pandemic. If the vaccines work only rudimentarily as well as reported by the experts, however, more normality should soon be able to take place again in most areas. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Have you actually tried the gin I have recommended to you???

With salicornia and sea buckthorn??? I prefer to stick to beer ;-)

The last words belong to you!

I am incredibly grateful for the positive reactions that fans and critics have given us in the past two years. Temple Of Dread stands for uncompromising death metal and will stick to this also in the future. Further development yes, effeminacy no! Keep us in your ear!