Hi Groza! Das Interview machen wir in Englisch, aber vorab herzliche Grüße aus dem Süden!

Hey guys. Thanks for taking the time for the interview! First of all, how are you doing?

Hello, thanks for having us. We are doing good so far, played a couple shows again this summer and finally released our new album, so things could be worse right now for sure.

For everyone who does not know you yet, how would you describe your music?

We play melodic, emotionally driven black metal.

How did the writing of The Redemptive End go? What’s the songwriting process in the band in general?

The writing process was a bit different for this album compared to the last one. I started this project in 2016 as a solo project, where I wrote all the music myself. So also, the first album Unified In Void was mainly written by me, since I only invited the other members to join GROZA a couple months before recording the debut. Most of it was already written before that.
For this new album though, it has been more of a team effort. I still come up with the basic ideas and concepts most of the time, but the other members now have more influence in arranging the songs and giving their parts their individual touch.
So usually, I record a rough demo myself which I then present to the other guys and we continue to work on it together from there. Also for this new album, we wrote some parts out of jam type situations at rehearsal, which is also something, that we haven’t done before.

In the press material I read that recording and mixing was done by P.G. himself. What’s your setup and experience with production, because the album sounds absolutely stellar! Respect, extremely professional. How much was influenced by the mastering support of Michael Kraxenberger (Sick Of Sound)? Can you walk us through your process a bit?

Thanks for the compliment. All the recording was done either in our rehearsal space (mainly for drums and vocals) or in my home studio. For mixing, my setup is rather simple. I do most of my mixing work ‘in the box’ (meaning without use of external audio hardware), so all I really need is a computer, a good audio interface and a pair of studio speakers, that I know very well to produce a record like this.
I just always happened to do the recording / mixing / mastering stuff for all my older bands and other projects, simply because we couldn’t afford to go to a proper studio back then. I just learned through trail and error, more or less, reading books about it or watching tutorials online and then applying it to my own projects.
It just grew from there. It’s also easier now for me to do it that way, because sometimes, I have a hard time expressing my vision through words to other people. I would much rather do it myself, before explaining it to someone else who then might interpret / understand it differently and so on.
It just makes sense to do it myself, if I have the skills for it. About the mastering: This time we chose, to hand over the mastering duties to Michael Kraxenberger. He’s a friend from the local scene, that we’ve known forever and I felt, that mastering was the main field in our production, that had potential left, because my mastering skills are limited.
That’s why we gave that to someone more capable.

In my review, I have assigned Unified in Void some strong MGLA influences, while The Redemptive End reminds me of UADA. While this in itself is by no means anything negative, how do you see GROZA in regards of individuality in the black metal scene?

Good question. I think that everyone starts by making music, that is influenced and oriented towards their favourite bands. It has always been that way. There is no need for me to reinvent the wheel with every song, if you know what I mean.
Black metal just provides a certain set of stylistic tools, that have been defined by the greats of the genre and through tradition, so why not use them and ‘risk’ being similar to this or that band that way. Out of that, with time, bands then start building their own sound by combining more influences and trying more things. That’s how new sounds and styles emerge and how music develops in the end.
With GROZA, we currently are in this state, I think. The first album was obviously heavily inspired by MGLA, who remain my favourite band (probably of all time).
Being younger than most people would probably expect, I really don’t see a problem with that and couldn’t care less, if that was too much for some. But now, also with the other members contributing more to the songwriting process, we have tried new sounds and directions for our music, which made us develop our sound quite a bit on this new album, I think.

Besides the music, GROZA also has a very similar style in regards to “the dresscode” of e.g. MGLA and UADA. Is this a deliberate choice or homage? Or is this just what the “black metal uniform” (in itself an antithetic idea) looks like nowadays?

Probably a combination of both. We chose this way of appearance to take the focus away from us as people and guide it towards our music, as many other bands have been doing for years. MGLA and UADA also were not the first doing this, many people seem to forget. I also see more and more bands do the same and don’t see a problem with that whatsoever.
I think art should always be about art itself and not about the people behind it, that’s why I approve this look and think, it should be done much more in the future.

Do you have many live gigs planned for the release? What is the situation with the pandemic?

Yes, we have played a couple of shows supporting the release of the album. Mostly festivals but also some club shows.
Of course, with the pandemic still going on, these shows were a little bit different from what we are used to with people wearing masks and sitting down in some cases etc. But the energy and enthusiasm of the people in attendance still remained the same, so that way, it made no difference in the end.

Thanks a lot for taking the time for the interview. I wish you guys lots of success with The Redemptive End and everything after that! Is there something you would like to say to our readers?

Thanks again for having us, all the best and hope to see the Dutch readers at a show in The Netherlands in the not so far future!

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The band’s first self-titled record was released in 2013, when Hladomrak was still a one-man band consisting only of founder and guitarist Evgenerator. In 2017 they followed up with Arctic Hysteria which was released with a full line-up. Now they give us Archaic Sacrifice, with a changed line-up. New blood Talon takes care of the lyrics and vocals, and Nils ‘Dominator’ Fjellström (ex-Dark Funeral, Nordjevel), takes care of the drums. The outfit is completed by Dipa on bass.

Not being familiar with the previous works of Hladomrak, I can only judge the current line-up and record. And I like what I hear. With 8 songs and a total runtime of 36:36, Archaic Sacrifice is not on the long side, but the riffing lends itself well to a shorter runtime. This is not a work of atmosphere or dreamy mysticism, but an onslaught of dark and brutal riffs. The guitar and drumming work on this record sometimes veers into death metal territory, rather than being a traditional black metal piece. And while I am a sucker for more epic, melodic, or folky influences in my black metal, this has won me over quite fast. The riffing never gets boring, and even though a lot of changes and riffs get thrown at you, still manages to have plenty of moments that stick with you.

The more technical, death metal-like riffing is well supported by a clean, polished and well produced sound. While again, I usually prefer a more natural sound, the fact that the songwriting and production fit together so well, makes this feel like a more coherent piece driven by a clear artistic vision.

In the end, whether you like Hladomrak’s latest work will be down to personal taste. I can see many oldschool black metal fans dismissing the modern style and production. I personally really like the complete package and will come back to this record quite a few in the future. Well done, gentlemen, well done!

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Now 3 years later, the Germans are back with their sophomore full length The Redemptive End, and it seems they have changed their ways, or at least added another influence to their inspiration. Now besides MGLA, they seem to have discovered Uada was well. You know Uada, the band that some people called “MGLA-light” for a while? Circles within circles, man… But let’s not harp on the lack of originality of Groza too much, when that is a problem that not only plagues them, but a pretty large group of current black metal all around. The Redemptive End is, if judged on its own merits, actually a pretty good record.

New to their arsenal, besides the expected blast beats and harsh grunts, we get some post-rock inspired riffs that blend in really well. Add to that some clean passages and a songwriting that switches through the available repertoire smoothly enough, and you get a record of around 42 minutes on 6 songs that never overstays its welcome. The guitar riffs are good and well played throughout. The drums are on point and every once in a while you get some of the bell-acrobatics we love from the Polish forerunners. The vocals are expertly delivered and as professional as they were on the debut. The production is clear and modern and meaty. There is not a single component in this product that I can say I dislike. It does feel like a product though, and not like a work of love, but that might just be me. Could be I am totally off on this, but my gut feeling tells me that every other band meeting for Groza starts with the sentence “Market research has shown…”. Now, that’s probablly exaggeration, and as mentioned, the record is actually pretty good.

But I cannot fall in love with this. There is nothing new here, I am never surprised by a riff, and I cannot loose myself in the melancholy of the soundscapes. It just feels too premeditated and planned, instead of raw emotions that made their way onto the record. But music was, is and always will be subjective, so while I will probably forget about this record within a weeks time, I highly recommend it to fans of MGLA, Uada and the likes. The craftsmanship is on point, the music is good, and what seems derivative to me might sound refined to somebody else. The Redemptive End is definitely very competent. Enjoy.

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The reason for my curiosity is less the music itself but more the people behind it. Mortal Strike’s band members are a few of the nicest people on this planet, and I have had the pleasure of sharing plenty of beer and once even a stage with guitar player Etzi. And on the other side we have the veterans from Darkfall, including none other than Thomas “Spiwi” Spiwak, the man behind plenty of concert organizations and the by far best metal festival in Austria, the Kaltenbach Open Air. Having witnessed the blossoming bromance between Etzi and Spiwi from a distance, I was looking forward to find out what the results out of their Jägermeister-infused planning would look like. On the 40 minute long Thrashing Death Squad, we get two new songs from each band, plus a cover of a song from the other band and a cover of a metal classic. Let’s start with Darkfall’s offerings.

Tides of War and The Gates Are Open are both solid Darkfall tracks with their blend of melodic death metal and aggressive thrash metal. While certainly loud and potentially headbanging-inducing when celebrated live in concert, I cannot really say that either song stuck with me. Maybe they just run on a bit too long for the amount of things happening within them.

With Here Comes The Tank they chose to cover one of the best songs on Mortal Strike’s darn good 2014 record For The Loud And The Aggressive. And to be honest, they kill it. I don’t know whether this is testament to a great cover performance or to the solid base song. Either way, it really works for me. Spiwi’s vocals are a lot more aggressive than the original, and while that takes away a bit of the stadium-rock flair, it adds lots of blunt and heavy energy. A good way to transform a cover song and make it your own!

Last but not least we have the cover of a metal classic. And they chose to merge not one, but two Manowar songs into one. Hail To The Warriors is a medley of Manowar’s Hail And Kill and Warriors Of The World. The less I have to share about my opinion of Manowar the better. For brevity’s sake let’s just say I prefer the Darkfall medley to either of the originals. It’s fun, it’s energetic, it’s heavy. It’s not Manowar. All these are positive things.

Mortal Strike have a new vocalist by the name of Martin R., and he has some pretty big shoes to fill. Matthias Gerstl’s vocal performance was one of the highlights on For The Loud And The Aggressive. Thankfully it seems that the new man on the mic does not try to imitate his predecessor, but rather confidently presents his own style. The two new songs A Storm Will Overcome and P.T.S.D. are both solid headbangers and make me look forward to the next Mortal Strike full-length. Similar to the two new Darkfall songs though, they run maybe a bit too long for what’s happening.

While Here Comes The Tank was transformed by Spiwi’s different vocal style, Mortal Strike’s take on the Darkfall classic Rise To Dominate is very close to the original. It’s still well performed, but that makes it a little bit more pointless. Weirdly enough, the same cannot be said for the Tankard cover Freibier. Here the vocals have a much more proletarian energy that feel like Mundl Sackbauer himself stepped up to the microphone and decided to wreck some shit. While I have an active dislike for the original, this cover oozes with energy, and you can feel the band having fun with it.

While certainly not a thrash masterpiece that will last throughout the ages, Thrashing Death Squad is a very enjoyable spotlight on two staples of the Austrian thrash metal scene. If you have never heard of either of the two, this is the best spot to check them out. Well done, gentlemen. May the bromance continue!

Here you can also read our preview of 2019’s Eindhoven Metal Meeting, including Darkfall.

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Tanker Som Rir Natten consists of 5 songs with close to or over 10 minutes of length plus the title track which is an acoustic interlude. Length is absolutely no issue here, as the songs themselves have enough variety and dynamic within them. This is one of those records that is best enjoyed listening to from start to finish. The songwriting is dark and atmospheric, and while mostly raw in nature, is perfectly enhanced by acoustic elements and eerie chants.

The instruments play off each other well. My favourite indicator to see whether a band in the classic trio formation (guitar, drums, bass) works well together is to see if the bass player is relegated to plucking the base note of whatever the guitar is doing, or whether the instrument is audible and used to actually enhance the tonal and melodic range of the musicians. The latter is the case, especially in the more quiet parts.

While Faust does not reinvent the wheel when it comes to beats, he swaps between plenty of rhythms to keep things fresh throughout the lengthy songs, and throws plenty of killer fills left, right and center. The drumming feels very energetic and is an absolute joy to listen to.

The instruments are accompanied by an absolute stellar vocal performance from Kvitrim, who screams and yells his heart out, and transports the intended emotions without the need for the listener to understand a word of Norwegian, which is the language the lyrics are written in.

The cherry on top is the mixing and mastering by Ruben Willem. It is distinctly oldschool black metal at heart, with plenty of grit, yet the production is clear enough to allow appreciation of the musicians at work. The drums are punchy, sound big and make me want to crank the speakers beyond healthy levels, yet they are far from the overproduced sterility of many modern productions. Kudos.

So overall lots of praises here. Any downsides? None that I can think of. This is atmospheric and dark black metal the way it should be. Noisy, angry, a bit melancholic and eerie. Nothing fancy or pretentious, yet far from simple. A thunderstorm over an ancient forest. Hard recommendation.

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One-man black metal projects are a dime a dozen these days, and while some of them are quite good, rarely does one really amaze me. To Mantle the Rising Sun was almost there, with an overall quite melodic approach to black metal but spiced up with some dirty and slightly aggressive riffs. With Karst Relict, I feel like there is a progress to Ovfrost as a songwriter, with an even stronger emphasis on melodies and atmosphere. The record definitely leans towards a melodic, post-black direction.

The guitar work consists of multiple layers, and there are plenty of piano parts thrown in for good measure, always utilized in an effective way to enhance the overall feeling. The overall approach seems to be to build a thick wall of sound, and in that, both the songwriting and the mixing succeed. The downside to that is, that some of the songs come along a bit samey. Without a single guitar riff to stand alone and on its own merit, it’s hard for me to grab onto something to remember. Most of the songs are a pleasant experience to listen to, but I could not hum to you a single riff after I am finished with the record.

The musicianship here is on a high enough level to merit this being a solo-project. Ovfrost puts out good guitar work, and I really like his vocals. Whether spoken words, pontifical clean vocals or the good old black metal screams, he does all of that very well. I assume that the drum work is programmed, at least it sounds that way. Just a bit too clean and sterile – but well programmed and creatively used. If I would dare give any recommendations to Ovfrost, it would be to see whether he can find a session drummer to lay down some filthy, raw black metal drums. If this record misses anything, it’s some grit.

That being said, I like Malist, and I like Karst Relict. There is nothing bad here. I would say in the sea of one-man black metal bands, Malist is definitely one of the best. And while I could not find a truly memorable song like To Mantle the Rising Sun‘s Shackled Minds, which to this day sticks in my head and makes my head bang, Karst Relict is a good record worth a listen. If you like your black metal well produced, melodic and melancholic, this is for you.

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The album starts of with the instrumental title track Sahrartu. While good at creating that occult atmosphere and setting the stage for what is to follow, at 03:35 it is overly long and feels unnecessary. The album closes with a track that feels even more tagged on, Riqutu. It’s not even fair to call it an instrumental, as it basically just consists of over 3 minutes of ambient noises. While that’s not bad in itself if utilized properly, the length and placement on the record suggest a desparate attempt to stretch the overall runtime out. The things you have to do to get a record past half an hour of length…

So that leaves us with 4 actual tracks to talk about, first being Utpāda, which is the single release and the reason why I picked Šahrartu for review. A great track consisting of brutal riffs accompanied by even heavier blasting drums and well delivered cookie monster vocals. Add to that some sweet reverb laden guitar melodies that haunt the track and fill it with a creepy, majestic atmosphere, and you have something that sets Eximperitus apart from your typical death metal band. The occult aspect is really well blended with the death metal ingredients. However, at close to 7 minutes, the song feels longer than it needs to be – or indeed than it should be, given the fact that the amount of variations within it are a bit limited.

Do you see a pattern emerging? The (limited amount of) ingredients here are great and mixed quite well, but what you get served are a few very similar versions of basically the same dish, stretched out over too much of a runtime. And while the dishes themselves might be tasty, I would have expected a bit more variety. This could have been cut down a bit and released as an EP, and it would probably have had more of an impact. As it is, Šahrartu is worth checking out if you are into this kind of death metal, but as a bit of a genre outsider, it did not win me over. I was quite intrigued by Utpāda, but the rest of the record did not really do it for me.

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Now, just having a few names of former glory in your roster does not a good super group make – as many bad or mediocre projects in metal history have shown. But fortunately, as with Katavasia, Yoth Iria seem to be the exception to the rule – As The Flame Withers is an impressive showing of talent, effort and most importantly, managing to make the sum of a project greater than its individual parts.

The Great Hunter mixes a fast oldschool riff, some slow Rotting Christ -like grooves and great atmosphere. Yoth Iria is of slower pace alltogether, and mixes reverb-laden guitar leads with subtle synths and revels in the dark and moody sound. Hermetic Code takes a turn towards the heroic and could harbor one of the best chorus that Abbath never wrote for his best project to date, I. Trve catchyness. Then it’s time for foreboding darkness in the intro of The Mantis, complete with an evil sounding brass section, before the song turns into another groove monster with a catchy chorus. The Red Crown Turns Black is the first time we get into real blast-beat-and-tremolo-picking territory, but as soon as the most used of all the black metal ingredients shows it face, it’s already complemented again with epic guitar melodies and black’n’roll riffs. Unborn, Undead, Eternal is a beautiful track that would fit perfectly on my favourite Rotting Christ album, Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού. If you ever listened to that record and remember tracks like Ahura Mazdā-Aŋra Mainiuu or In Yumen – Xibalba, you know what I am talking about. Tyrants is made of similar stuff, while album closer The Luciferian takes a turn towards the dramatic and operatic. While not bad, it did stick the least with me, as not much is happening, and it is easily the weakest track on this otherwise great record.

In short, this record is pretty awesome. It mixes influences from the best of my favourite era of Rotting Christ with black’n’roll elements that could be from the time the best material Abbath ever created was released, and here and there you hear synths in the background that will make you swear that a certain crazy person that once recorded Burzum’s Filosofem contributed them. Most importantly, As The Flame Withers does not sound like a hodgepodge of borrowed ideas thrown together on a whim, all the styles are blended beautifully and sound original, like they came from one creative wellspring. I really dig Yoth Iria’s debut LP and hope there will be more to come. What a great time for hellenic black metal!

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Bhleg are a two-man group from Sweden who play raw and heavy folk-infused black metal. L. is the man on lead vocals, S. takes care of bass, guitars and additional vocals. On Ödhin, which is their third full length record, a certain A. is credited with drums. The record consists of 6 tracks at a total length of 47 minutes and is just simply great. Well to be precise, we have 4 “full tracks”, namely Vyss, Alyr III, Slukad sol and Ödet. Gyllene gal serves as a 5 minutes interlude consisting of dreamlike synths, and Drömmen om vårdträdet is a beautiful acoustic outro. Often such tracks would feel like filler, but they work perfectly for me in this instance, taking off some edges and molding the album into a consistent, smooth experience. The 4 black metal tracks we are left with are spiced up with chants, whispers, horns, acoustic guitars and lots of atmosphere. Great songwriting and atmosphere all around.

The music on Ödhin is a mix of outbursts of savage energy, rhythmic grooves and melancholic pauses. The overall feeling is dark, somber, painting a picture of despair and mystery. If you need a soundtrack to the endtimes, this fits perfectly. The record grabbed me from the first second, and only drew me in deeper from there. If it’s not clear up to now, I give this one a hard recommendation. If you have any love for black metal, folk metal or in general enjoy a hypnotic, dark auditory journey, then you owe it to yourself to give this one a listen. I have not known of Bhleg before, but I am very glad that I do now. What a start into the year.

Here you can also read our earlier review of Bhleg’s Äril.

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When I say pure and oldschool, I mean pure and oldschool. I have been putting off doing this review for weeks, as I just could not decide what to write about here. This is a very hard text to fill with words.

Don’t get me wrong, Theion is actually quite good! To make it short, the band is giving it their all. The performances are great across the board here, and the album sounds great. Songwriting is good too, there’s enough going on within each song, and the tracks are varied enough, switching between faster, more frantic tracks and slower, epic and more oppressive songs. I have had lots of fun listening to the album! But on the downside, it is so very familiar, so very unsurprising, so very … orthodox.

If you like black metal in any shape or form, this record should be a safe bet. I can’t find anything bad here. Put it in, give it a spin, you’ll probably enjoy what you hear. Here on Theion, the second wave of black metal never ended. Just don’t expect anything groundbreaking. But maybe I am looking at this the wrong way. A new metalhead is born every day, and many of these younglings have not yet found their way around to black metal. You could do a lot worse than to stumble over Malakhim’s Theion for one of your first introductions to old school black metal.

So whether this is your first contact with black metal or a fix for a starving black metal addict, Theion is a fine recommendation either way. It might not please picky connoisseurs for its lack of originality. But who cares about picky connoisseurs anyway.

Merry christmas and hail satan!

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