Metallica live in Foxborough, MA

Atmospheric black metal greats Ashbringer dropped a new track from their forthcoming album, We Came Here To Grieve, out September 29 via Translation Loss Records. “Pages” gives us a taste of the melody and balanced yet psychedelic approach that the new album offers. 

"As we began writing for this upcoming album, 'Pages' was the first track we put together," the band say about the track. "It did not take more than a few weeks of us working on it to establish how exciting the rest of the process would be for us.

"As we feel this upcoming album represents our 'mission statement' in terms of what we are able to accomplish as a group and what kind of vision we have for the immediate future, this song would easily be considered to us as the 'tag line.'"

Recorded last summer on the North Shore of Minnesota, We Came to Grieve represents a pivotal point for the band, who haven’t put out a studio album since 2019's Absolution. The new album picks up where that one left off, but with a more nuanced and even heavier approach. 

Ashbringer will also be performing live throughout the midwest this Fall, and throughout several other parts of the country next spring.  

Follow @ashbringermusic on Instagram to stay up to date. Preorder the album here. 

Artwork by Andy Meyer

Atmospheric black metal greats Ashbringer dropped a new track from their forthcoming album, We Came Here To Grieve, out September 29 via Translation Loss Records. “Pages” gives us a taste of the melody and balanced yet psychedelic approach that the new album offers. 

"As we began writing for this upcoming album, 'Pages' was the first track we put together," the band say about the track. "It did not take more than a few weeks of us working on it to establish how exciting the rest of the process would be for us.

"As we feel this upcoming album represents our 'mission statement' in terms of what we are able to accomplish as a group and what kind of vision we have for the immediate future, this song would easily be considered to us as the 'tag line.'"

Recorded last summer on the North Shore of Minnesota, We Came to Grieve represents a pivotal point for the band, who haven’t put out a studio album since 2019's Absolution. The new album picks up where that one left off, but with a more nuanced and even heavier approach. 

Ashbringer will also be performing live throughout the midwest this Fall, and throughout several other parts of the country next spring.  

Follow @ashbringermusic on Instagram to stay up to date. Preorder the album here. 

Artwork by Andy Meyer

Atmospheric black metal greats Ashbringer dropped a new track from their forthcoming album, We Came Here To Grieve, out September 29 via Translation Loss Records. “Pages” gives us a taste of the melody and balanced yet psychedelic approach that the new album offers. 

"As we began writing for this upcoming album, 'Pages' was the first track we put together," the band say about the track. "It did not take more than a few weeks of us working on it to establish how exciting the rest of the process would be for us.

"As we feel this upcoming album represents our 'mission statement' in terms of what we are able to accomplish as a group and what kind of vision we have for the immediate future, this song would easily be considered to us as the 'tag line.'"

Recorded last summer on the North Shore of Minnesota, We Came to Grieve represents a pivotal point for the band, who haven’t put out a studio album since 2019's Absolution. The new album picks up where that one left off, but with a more nuanced and even heavier approach. 

Ashbringer will also be performing live throughout the midwest this Fall, and throughout several other parts of the country next spring.  

Follow @ashbringermusic on Instagram to stay up to date. Preorder the album here. 

Artwork by Andy Meyer

Atmospheric black metal greats Ashbringer dropped a new track from their forthcoming album, We Came Here To Grieve, out September 29 via Translation Loss Records. “Pages” gives us a taste of the melody and balanced yet psychedelic approach that the new album offers. 

"As we began writing for this upcoming album, 'Pages' was the first track we put together," the band say about the track. "It did not take more than a few weeks of us working on it to establish how exciting the rest of the process would be for us.

"As we feel this upcoming album represents our 'mission statement' in terms of what we are able to accomplish as a group and what kind of vision we have for the immediate future, this song would easily be considered to us as the 'tag line.'"

Recorded last summer on the North Shore of Minnesota, We Came to Grieve represents a pivotal point for the band, who haven’t put out a studio album since 2019's Absolution. The new album picks up where that one left off, but with a more nuanced and even heavier approach. 

Ashbringer will also be performing live throughout the midwest this Fall, and throughout several other parts of the country next spring.  

Follow @ashbringermusic on Instagram to stay up to date. Preorder the album here. 

Artwork by Andy Meyer

Atmospheric black metal greats Ashbringer dropped a new track from their forthcoming album, We Came Here To Grieve, out September 29 via Translation Loss Records. “Pages” gives us a taste of the melody and balanced yet psychedelic approach that the new album offers. 

"As we began writing for this upcoming album, 'Pages' was the first track we put together," the band say about the track. "It did not take more than a few weeks of us working on it to establish how exciting the rest of the process would be for us.

"As we feel this upcoming album represents our 'mission statement' in terms of what we are able to accomplish as a group and what kind of vision we have for the immediate future, this song would easily be considered to us as the 'tag line.'"

Recorded last summer on the North Shore of Minnesota, We Came to Grieve represents a pivotal point for the band, who haven’t put out a studio album since 2019's Absolution. The new album picks up where that one left off, but with a more nuanced and even heavier approach. 

Ashbringer will also be performing live throughout the midwest this Fall, and throughout several other parts of the country next spring.  

Follow @ashbringermusic on Instagram to stay up to date. Preorder the album here. 

Artwork by Andy Meyer

Atmospheric black metal greats Ashbringer dropped a new track from their forthcoming album, We Came Here To Grieve, out September 29 via Translation Loss Records. “Pages” gives us a taste of the melody and balanced yet psychedelic approach that the new album offers. 

"As we began writing for this upcoming album, 'Pages' was the first track we put together," the band say about the track. "It did not take more than a few weeks of us working on it to establish how exciting the rest of the process would be for us.

"As we feel this upcoming album represents our 'mission statement' in terms of what we are able to accomplish as a group and what kind of vision we have for the immediate future, this song would easily be considered to us as the 'tag line.'"

Recorded last summer on the North Shore of Minnesota, We Came to Grieve represents a pivotal point for the band, who haven’t put out a studio album since 2019's Absolution. The new album picks up where that one left off, but with a more nuanced and even heavier approach. 

Ashbringer will also be performing live throughout the midwest this Fall, and throughout several other parts of the country next spring.  

Follow @ashbringermusic on Instagram to stay up to date. Preorder the album here. 

Artwork by Andy Meyer

Atmospheric black metal greats Ashbringer dropped a new track from their forthcoming album, We Came Here To Grieve, out September 29 via Translation Loss Records. “Pages” gives us a taste of the melody and balanced yet psychedelic approach that the new album offers. 

"As we began writing for this upcoming album, 'Pages' was the first track we put together," the band say about the track. "It did not take more than a few weeks of us working on it to establish how exciting the rest of the process would be for us.

"As we feel this upcoming album represents our 'mission statement' in terms of what we are able to accomplish as a group and what kind of vision we have for the immediate future, this song would easily be considered to us as the 'tag line.'"

Recorded last summer on the North Shore of Minnesota, We Came to Grieve represents a pivotal point for the band, who haven’t put out a studio album since 2019's Absolution. The new album picks up where that one left off, but with a more nuanced and even heavier approach. 

Ashbringer will also be performing live throughout the midwest this Fall, and throughout several other parts of the country next spring.  

Follow @ashbringermusic on Instagram to stay up to date. Preorder the album here. 

Artwork by Andy Meyer

Atmospheric black metal greats Ashbringer dropped a new track from their forthcoming album, We Came Here To Grieve, out September 29 via Translation Loss Records. “Pages” gives us a taste of the melody and balanced yet psychedelic approach that the new album offers. 

"As we began writing for this upcoming album, 'Pages' was the first track we put together," the band say about the track. "It did not take more than a few weeks of us working on it to establish how exciting the rest of the process would be for us.

"As we feel this upcoming album represents our 'mission statement' in terms of what we are able to accomplish as a group and what kind of vision we have for the immediate future, this song would easily be considered to us as the 'tag line.'"

Recorded last summer on the North Shore of Minnesota, We Came to Grieve represents a pivotal point for the band, who haven’t put out a studio album since 2019's Absolution. The new album picks up where that one left off, but with a more nuanced and even heavier approach. 

Ashbringer will also be performing live throughout the midwest this Fall, and throughout several other parts of the country next spring.  

Follow @ashbringermusic on Instagram to stay up to date. Preorder the album here. 

Artwork by Andy Meyer

Atmospheric black metal greats Ashbringer dropped a new track from their forthcoming album, We Came Here To Grieve, out September 29 via Translation Loss Records. “Pages” gives us a taste of the melody and balanced yet psychedelic approach that the new album offers. 

"As we began writing for this upcoming album, 'Pages' was the first track we put together," the band say about the track. "It did not take more than a few weeks of us working on it to establish how exciting the rest of the process would be for us.

"As we feel this upcoming album represents our 'mission statement' in terms of what we are able to accomplish as a group and what kind of vision we have for the immediate future, this song would easily be considered to us as the 'tag line.'"

Recorded last summer on the North Shore of Minnesota, We Came to Grieve represents a pivotal point for the band, who haven’t put out a studio album since 2019's Absolution. The new album picks up where that one left off, but with a more nuanced and even heavier approach. 

Ashbringer will also be performing live throughout the midwest this Fall, and throughout several other parts of the country next spring.  

Follow @ashbringermusic on Instagram to stay up to date. Preorder the album here. 

Artwork by Andy Meyer

As any fan knows, black metal's exploration of evil sometimes coincides with toxic politics. Bands interested in the occult all too often reveal themselves to also be interested in retrogressive ideas or outright chauvinism—it can be a tiring process to separate the corpse-painted wheat from the chaff.

Enter Nixil.

Working with weapons from the trve black metal arsenal—elaborate stagecraft, anti-establishment sentiment, a sincere interest in the occult—while standing firm in antifascism and a commitment to playing live, the Baltimore five-piece made minor waves with All Knots Untied and a busy touring schedule in 2021 and 2022. The band is returning later this month with their second full-length and Prosthetic records debut, From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire, and it builds on Nixil's punk-informed black metal in harrowing ways.

The album consists of six punishing tracks including singles "Collapsing the Poles" and "Abyss to Abyss." From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire is rich with detail from beginning to end, with each song clocking in between six and a half and eight minutes. Nixil pack every moment with riffs, fills and lead vocalist C's spectral howl. The album has exquisite dramatic timing, with melee verses following chanted bridges and swells of dueling guitars. In sum, this is "traditional" black metal done right and without the taint of noxious politics.

That extends to the record's conceptual framework. C maintains a strong interest in gnosticism and magick, and From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire delves into their anticosmic explorations, which form the foundation for Nixil's lyrics and live show. The band even brought the occult into the studio through an impromptu ceremony before recording closer "The Way Is the Grave."

I spoke to C and Nixil bassist and backing vocalist Aurora about antifascism in black metal, the occult, the band's visual elements and From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire, which is out August 25. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

...

...

Before we get into the record itself, let's talk about the state of black metal. Nixil is avowedly antifascist in a time when lots of bands feel compelled to pick sides—what prompted you to stake out that ideological territory, and how does that reflect what's happening in your music?

C: At least for a couple of us, we've been in the fight against fascism for a long, long time, most of our lives in some cases. Some of us have been involved in anarchist organizing and stuff like that. It's just obvious—fascism is insidious and totally asinine. The whole concept is just mind-blowingly stupid, and the fact that it's rearing its ugly head so obviously and without fear these days made it feel important to us to state outright that we don't want anything to do with that. It's so insidious in black metal culture in general. People are either indifferent to it or "pro-it," but really a lot of people who say they're pro-fascism are just trying to be fucking dumbass edgelords because it seems edgy or scary without looking at what the real ramifications of that concept are.

Aurora: It is scary, though, but it's not aesthetically scary; it's life-threateningly, universe-threateningly actually scary. Something we've talked about a lot is that folks don't tend to take things to their logical conclusion. [They] can sport these symbols and walk away scot-free without recognizing that it actually has a huge impact on people's lives and safety and the future in general. I do want to say we don't talk about politics overtly in our music at all. That's kind of why, at least for me, it's felt important to say that we're a group of antifascist people. There's a lot of cryptofascist imagery with music and gross dog whistles, and people don't come out one way or the other, or just say "we're apolitical." Thematically, our music and art are officially "apolitical," but it's not about politics; it's about self-defense, and that seems like a no-brainer to me. Fascism is fucking bad. People who espouse an image like that also aren't necessarily the type of people who end up on top if fascism does take over.

So as far as the thematic underpinnings of the new record, what are you all working with?

C: Most of the lyrics and imagery are based on my spiritual and magickal practices, which, broadly, are termed chaos-gnostic. There's a strong association with what people call anticosmic satanism, but I don't use those terms overtly mostly because so many black metal bands do and don't know what the fuck they're talking about. It's just a big veneer people put on. I choose to express my gnosis and understanding of this work through terms that are not painted in such common structures. Every song sans "In Thrall," which that is directly cursing those of the fascist milieu, all the other songs [on From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire] are based on experiences I've had in doing this work. Aurora: As a person who doesn't write the lyrics, something we tend to fall back on is that the concepts are really about liberation—whatever that means—and breaking through systems of oppression, whether they're esoteric, spiritual, literal political systems of oppression or even the things within ourselves that hold us back. That's kind of the concept of our first single, which was "Collapsing the Poles."

I wanted to ask about "Collapsing the Poles" specifically, because at first I imagined it being something like a colossal revival tent collapsing on itself.

C:The symbolism inherently the magnetic concept. It's the idea that everything in our world exists on a spectrum, and in order to move freely, realistically you need to be nothing instead of an identification with something. So the idea is collapsing the "as above, so below" concept into a nothingness instead of always being a reflection of the universe around you, or of God as a demiurgic existential concept. Basically, in this work, you recognize that, at all times, you are a reflection of that concept until you start breaking it down and attempting not to be it anymore. That's what "Collapsing the Poles" is supposed to entail. It sounds like Nixil has had some shifts in lineup. How did this play into recording From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire live, where everything is kind of happening all at once?

Aurora: We've always recorded live. We did with the first album, too. I think it's kind of hearkening back to most of our punk backgrounds—the idea of having to do single-tracking to a click just doesn't really flow for us. We also identify ourselves as being a live band. Our live shows have always been the most important piece of all of it for us, where we connect with folks the most and engage with the music the most, so being able to harness that energy in a studio space has always really been important. We worked with Jay Robbins on this album and the last album. He's got this super beautiful punk-rock pedigree from being in Jawbox. As for the lineup change, the four of us—myself, C and our drummer [guitarist] Shane—have been together since the beginning, and our new-not-really-new guitarist Alden has been with us pretty much since we first started playing live. It was a really natural kind of synchronistic connection. He's pretty rad.
I recently interviewed James Plotkin about his music and mastering work. What was he able to do for this album's sound?

Aurora: Having been in a bunch of bands that have recorded in various ways and put things out on vinyl, he is the person that I always go to for mastering because he knows how to do bass so well. That's never lost on vinyl, and for me, that's been super rare, being the bassist… He's a super-prolific and amazing musician. Working with J. Robbins vs. James [Plotkin], they have such a different energy. J. in the studio is very laid back and kind of just does whatever and will throw out ideas, and before [recording] the last song on the record, we ended up doing this in-studio ritual with some things that happened to be lying around, and he was involved in that, and it was again very synchronistic. Working with James, mastering is a lot more of a technical procedure or process skill—he just is so good at finding little nuances and bringing things out.

One important part of the album is how it's presented to the public. How do you work on the visual aspect of your releases, and what will it look like when you take this record on the road?

C: The visual aspect just kind of came to me at one point. I painted the cover art. It's also a visual representation of everything that the album is about.

Aurora: I'll say, too, that there's an insert that our drummer Key did, and our guitarist Shane is a photographer and videographer—he did a shoot with Max Cavalera for Decibel, I believe, and there's a crazy outtake photo that Max wasn't in, when was prepping the space with smoke, and for whatever reason [Shane] doubled [the exposure], and having doubled it you could see all these figures coming out of the smoke. That's what became the back cover of the record. The four of them [the other members of Nixil] are all very prolific visual artists.

C: We all work together really well as far as our visual art… we didn't approach this record's album art saying, "this record is going to be about fire, and all the visuals are going to be fire;" they just kind of synchronistically came out that way. That's always how we've worked—we have a strong connection to each other, and through connection to the other side, that which is bigger, we are offered synchronicities that help us move forward and express ourselves in that way. As far as live, we have changed lighting a little bit to reflect the color scheme of the album art. Other than that, we've played with some ideas, but nothing is finalized yet.

Aurora: We have always tried to create a really dense atmosphere live using fog, light, weird color, shadows that kind of thing. That's always been important and will continue to be. We have some other grand ideas, but we'll see how that pans out.

What do you have on the calendar for the album release and this coming fall?

Aurora: We have our record release show in Baltimore—we're opening for Sacramentum and Crossspitter, and I am very, very excited about that. I'm a huge fan of Melissa Moore and all of her projects, and also Sacramentum. I guess it's their first US tour, so that's gonna be pretty rad. The actual record release weekend, August 24 and 25, we're going to be up in Rochester and New Jersey, [and we have] a nine-date tour of Northeast starting at the end of September going into October.

...

From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire releases today via Prosthetic Records.

As any fan knows, black metal's exploration of evil sometimes coincides with toxic politics. Bands interested in the occult all too often reveal themselves to also be interested in retrogressive ideas or outright chauvinism—it can be a tiring process to separate the corpse-painted wheat from the chaff.

Enter Nixil.

Working with weapons from the trve black metal arsenal—elaborate stagecraft, anti-establishment sentiment, a sincere interest in the occult—while standing firm in antifascism and a commitment to playing live, the Baltimore five-piece made minor waves with All Knots Untied and a busy touring schedule in 2021 and 2022. The band is returning later this month with their second full-length and Prosthetic records debut, From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire, and it builds on Nixil's punk-informed black metal in harrowing ways.

The album consists of six punishing tracks including singles "Collapsing the Poles" and "Abyss to Abyss." From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire is rich with detail from beginning to end, with each song clocking in between six and a half and eight minutes. Nixil pack every moment with riffs, fills and lead vocalist C's spectral howl. The album has exquisite dramatic timing, with melee verses following chanted bridges and swells of dueling guitars. In sum, this is "traditional" black metal done right and without the taint of noxious politics.

That extends to the record's conceptual framework. C maintains a strong interest in gnosticism and magick, and From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire delves into their anticosmic explorations, which form the foundation for Nixil's lyrics and live show. The band even brought the occult into the studio through an impromptu ceremony before recording closer "The Way Is the Grave."

I spoke to C and Nixil bassist and backing vocalist Aurora about antifascism in black metal, the occult, the band's visual elements and From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire, which is out August 25. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

...

...

Before we get into the record itself, let's talk about the state of black metal. Nixil is avowedly antifascist in a time when lots of bands feel compelled to pick sides—what prompted you to stake out that ideological territory, and how does that reflect what's happening in your music?

C: At least for a couple of us, we've been in the fight against fascism for a long, long time, most of our lives in some cases. Some of us have been involved in anarchist organizing and stuff like that. It's just obvious—fascism is insidious and totally asinine. The whole concept is just mind-blowingly stupid, and the fact that it's rearing its ugly head so obviously and without fear these days made it feel important to us to state outright that we don't want anything to do with that. It's so insidious in black metal culture in general. People are either indifferent to it or "pro-it," but really a lot of people who say they're pro-fascism are just trying to be fucking dumbass edgelords because it seems edgy or scary without looking at what the real ramifications of that concept are.

Aurora: It is scary, though, but it's not aesthetically scary; it's life-threateningly, universe-threateningly actually scary. Something we've talked about a lot is that folks don't tend to take things to their logical conclusion. [They] can sport these symbols and walk away scot-free without recognizing that it actually has a huge impact on people's lives and safety and the future in general. I do want to say we don't talk about politics overtly in our music at all. That's kind of why, at least for me, it's felt important to say that we're a group of antifascist people. There's a lot of cryptofascist imagery with music and gross dog whistles, and people don't come out one way or the other, or just say "we're apolitical." Thematically, our music and art are officially "apolitical," but it's not about politics; it's about self-defense, and that seems like a no-brainer to me. Fascism is fucking bad. People who espouse an image like that also aren't necessarily the type of people who end up on top if fascism does take over.

So as far as the thematic underpinnings of the new record, what are you all working with?

C: Most of the lyrics and imagery are based on my spiritual and magickal practices, which, broadly, are termed chaos-gnostic. There's a strong association with what people call anticosmic satanism, but I don't use those terms overtly mostly because so many black metal bands do and don't know what the fuck they're talking about. It's just a big veneer people put on. I choose to express my gnosis and understanding of this work through terms that are not painted in such common structures. Every song sans "In Thrall," which that is directly cursing those of the fascist milieu, all the other songs [on From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire] are based on experiences I've had in doing this work. Aurora: As a person who doesn't write the lyrics, something we tend to fall back on is that the concepts are really about liberation—whatever that means—and breaking through systems of oppression, whether they're esoteric, spiritual, literal political systems of oppression or even the things within ourselves that hold us back. That's kind of the concept of our first single, which was "Collapsing the Poles."

I wanted to ask about "Collapsing the Poles" specifically, because at first I imagined it being something like a colossal revival tent collapsing on itself.

C:The symbolism inherently the magnetic concept. It's the idea that everything in our world exists on a spectrum, and in order to move freely, realistically you need to be nothing instead of an identification with something. So the idea is collapsing the "as above, so below" concept into a nothingness instead of always being a reflection of the universe around you, or of God as a demiurgic existential concept. Basically, in this work, you recognize that, at all times, you are a reflection of that concept until you start breaking it down and attempting not to be it anymore. That's what "Collapsing the Poles" is supposed to entail. It sounds like Nixil has had some shifts in lineup. How did this play into recording From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire live, where everything is kind of happening all at once?

Aurora: We've always recorded live. We did with the first album, too. I think it's kind of hearkening back to most of our punk backgrounds—the idea of having to do single-tracking to a click just doesn't really flow for us. We also identify ourselves as being a live band. Our live shows have always been the most important piece of all of it for us, where we connect with folks the most and engage with the music the most, so being able to harness that energy in a studio space has always really been important. We worked with Jay Robbins on this album and the last album. He's got this super beautiful punk-rock pedigree from being in Jawbox. As for the lineup change, the four of us—myself, C and our drummer [guitarist] Shane—have been together since the beginning, and our new-not-really-new guitarist Alden has been with us pretty much since we first started playing live. It was a really natural kind of synchronistic connection. He's pretty rad.
I recently interviewed James Plotkin about his music and mastering work. What was he able to do for this album's sound?

Aurora: Having been in a bunch of bands that have recorded in various ways and put things out on vinyl, he is the person that I always go to for mastering because he knows how to do bass so well. That's never lost on vinyl, and for me, that's been super rare, being the bassist… He's a super-prolific and amazing musician. Working with J. Robbins vs. James [Plotkin], they have such a different energy. J. in the studio is very laid back and kind of just does whatever and will throw out ideas, and before [recording] the last song on the record, we ended up doing this in-studio ritual with some things that happened to be lying around, and he was involved in that, and it was again very synchronistic. Working with James, mastering is a lot more of a technical procedure or process skill—he just is so good at finding little nuances and bringing things out.

One important part of the album is how it's presented to the public. How do you work on the visual aspect of your releases, and what will it look like when you take this record on the road?

C: The visual aspect just kind of came to me at one point. I painted the cover art. It's also a visual representation of everything that the album is about.

Aurora: I'll say, too, that there's an insert that our drummer Key did, and our guitarist Shane is a photographer and videographer—he did a shoot with Max Cavalera for Decibel, I believe, and there's a crazy outtake photo that Max wasn't in, when was prepping the space with smoke, and for whatever reason [Shane] doubled [the exposure], and having doubled it you could see all these figures coming out of the smoke. That's what became the back cover of the record. The four of them [the other members of Nixil] are all very prolific visual artists.

C: We all work together really well as far as our visual art… we didn't approach this record's album art saying, "this record is going to be about fire, and all the visuals are going to be fire;" they just kind of synchronistically came out that way. That's always how we've worked—we have a strong connection to each other, and through connection to the other side, that which is bigger, we are offered synchronicities that help us move forward and express ourselves in that way. As far as live, we have changed lighting a little bit to reflect the color scheme of the album art. Other than that, we've played with some ideas, but nothing is finalized yet.

Aurora: We have always tried to create a really dense atmosphere live using fog, light, weird color, shadows that kind of thing. That's always been important and will continue to be. We have some other grand ideas, but we'll see how that pans out.

What do you have on the calendar for the album release and this coming fall?

Aurora: We have our record release show in Baltimore—we're opening for Sacramentum and Crossspitter, and I am very, very excited about that. I'm a huge fan of Melissa Moore and all of her projects, and also Sacramentum. I guess it's their first US tour, so that's gonna be pretty rad. The actual record release weekend, August 24 and 25, we're going to be up in Rochester and New Jersey, [and we have] a nine-date tour of Northeast starting at the end of September going into October.

...

From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire releases today via Prosthetic Records.

As any fan knows, black metal's exploration of evil sometimes coincides with toxic politics. Bands interested in the occult all too often reveal themselves to also be interested in retrogressive ideas or outright chauvinism—it can be a tiring process to separate the corpse-painted wheat from the chaff.

Enter Nixil.

Working with weapons from the trve black metal arsenal—elaborate stagecraft, anti-establishment sentiment, a sincere interest in the occult—while standing firm in antifascism and a commitment to playing live, the Baltimore five-piece made minor waves with All Knots Untied and a busy touring schedule in 2021 and 2022. The band is returning later this month with their second full-length and Prosthetic records debut, From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire, and it builds on Nixil's punk-informed black metal in harrowing ways.

The album consists of six punishing tracks including singles "Collapsing the Poles" and "Abyss to Abyss." From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire is rich with detail from beginning to end, with each song clocking in between six and a half and eight minutes. Nixil pack every moment with riffs, fills and lead vocalist C's spectral howl. The album has exquisite dramatic timing, with melee verses following chanted bridges and swells of dueling guitars. In sum, this is "traditional" black metal done right and without the taint of noxious politics.

That extends to the record's conceptual framework. C maintains a strong interest in gnosticism and magick, and From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire delves into their anticosmic explorations, which form the foundation for Nixil's lyrics and live show. The band even brought the occult into the studio through an impromptu ceremony before recording closer "The Way Is the Grave."

I spoke to C and Nixil bassist and backing vocalist Aurora about antifascism in black metal, the occult, the band's visual elements and From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire, which is out August 25. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

...

...

Before we get into the record itself, let's talk about the state of black metal. Nixil is avowedly antifascist in a time when lots of bands feel compelled to pick sides—what prompted you to stake out that ideological territory, and how does that reflect what's happening in your music?

C: At least for a couple of us, we've been in the fight against fascism for a long, long time, most of our lives in some cases. Some of us have been involved in anarchist organizing and stuff like that. It's just obvious—fascism is insidious and totally asinine. The whole concept is just mind-blowingly stupid, and the fact that it's rearing its ugly head so obviously and without fear these days made it feel important to us to state outright that we don't want anything to do with that. It's so insidious in black metal culture in general. People are either indifferent to it or "pro-it," but really a lot of people who say they're pro-fascism are just trying to be fucking dumbass edgelords because it seems edgy or scary without looking at what the real ramifications of that concept are.

Aurora: It is scary, though, but it's not aesthetically scary; it's life-threateningly, universe-threateningly actually scary. Something we've talked about a lot is that folks don't tend to take things to their logical conclusion. [They] can sport these symbols and walk away scot-free without recognizing that it actually has a huge impact on people's lives and safety and the future in general. I do want to say we don't talk about politics overtly in our music at all. That's kind of why, at least for me, it's felt important to say that we're a group of antifascist people. There's a lot of cryptofascist imagery with music and gross dog whistles, and people don't come out one way or the other, or just say "we're apolitical." Thematically, our music and art are officially "apolitical," but it's not about politics; it's about self-defense, and that seems like a no-brainer to me. Fascism is fucking bad. People who espouse an image like that also aren't necessarily the type of people who end up on top if fascism does take over.

So as far as the thematic underpinnings of the new record, what are you all working with?

C: Most of the lyrics and imagery are based on my spiritual and magickal practices, which, broadly, are termed chaos-gnostic. There's a strong association with what people call anticosmic satanism, but I don't use those terms overtly mostly because so many black metal bands do and don't know what the fuck they're talking about. It's just a big veneer people put on. I choose to express my gnosis and understanding of this work through terms that are not painted in such common structures. Every song sans "In Thrall," which that is directly cursing those of the fascist milieu, all the other songs [on From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire] are based on experiences I've had in doing this work. Aurora: As a person who doesn't write the lyrics, something we tend to fall back on is that the concepts are really about liberation—whatever that means—and breaking through systems of oppression, whether they're esoteric, spiritual, literal political systems of oppression or even the things within ourselves that hold us back. That's kind of the concept of our first single, which was "Collapsing the Poles."

I wanted to ask about "Collapsing the Poles" specifically, because at first I imagined it being something like a colossal revival tent collapsing on itself.

C:The symbolism inherently the magnetic concept. It's the idea that everything in our world exists on a spectrum, and in order to move freely, realistically you need to be nothing instead of an identification with something. So the idea is collapsing the "as above, so below" concept into a nothingness instead of always being a reflection of the universe around you, or of God as a demiurgic existential concept. Basically, in this work, you recognize that, at all times, you are a reflection of that concept until you start breaking it down and attempting not to be it anymore. That's what "Collapsing the Poles" is supposed to entail. It sounds like Nixil has had some shifts in lineup. How did this play into recording From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire live, where everything is kind of happening all at once?

Aurora: We've always recorded live. We did with the first album, too. I think it's kind of hearkening back to most of our punk backgrounds—the idea of having to do single-tracking to a click just doesn't really flow for us. We also identify ourselves as being a live band. Our live shows have always been the most important piece of all of it for us, where we connect with folks the most and engage with the music the most, so being able to harness that energy in a studio space has always really been important. We worked with Jay Robbins on this album and the last album. He's got this super beautiful punk-rock pedigree from being in Jawbox. As for the lineup change, the four of us—myself, C and our drummer [guitarist] Shane—have been together since the beginning, and our new-not-really-new guitarist Alden has been with us pretty much since we first started playing live. It was a really natural kind of synchronistic connection. He's pretty rad.
I recently interviewed James Plotkin about his music and mastering work. What was he able to do for this album's sound?

Aurora: Having been in a bunch of bands that have recorded in various ways and put things out on vinyl, he is the person that I always go to for mastering because he knows how to do bass so well. That's never lost on vinyl, and for me, that's been super rare, being the bassist… He's a super-prolific and amazing musician. Working with J. Robbins vs. James [Plotkin], they have such a different energy. J. in the studio is very laid back and kind of just does whatever and will throw out ideas, and before [recording] the last song on the record, we ended up doing this in-studio ritual with some things that happened to be lying around, and he was involved in that, and it was again very synchronistic. Working with James, mastering is a lot more of a technical procedure or process skill—he just is so good at finding little nuances and bringing things out.

One important part of the album is how it's presented to the public. How do you work on the visual aspect of your releases, and what will it look like when you take this record on the road?

C: The visual aspect just kind of came to me at one point. I painted the cover art. It's also a visual representation of everything that the album is about.

Aurora: I'll say, too, that there's an insert that our drummer Key did, and our guitarist Shane is a photographer and videographer—he did a shoot with Max Cavalera for Decibel, I believe, and there's a crazy outtake photo that Max wasn't in, when was prepping the space with smoke, and for whatever reason [Shane] doubled [the exposure], and having doubled it you could see all these figures coming out of the smoke. That's what became the back cover of the record. The four of them [the other members of Nixil] are all very prolific visual artists.

C: We all work together really well as far as our visual art… we didn't approach this record's album art saying, "this record is going to be about fire, and all the visuals are going to be fire;" they just kind of synchronistically came out that way. That's always how we've worked—we have a strong connection to each other, and through connection to the other side, that which is bigger, we are offered synchronicities that help us move forward and express ourselves in that way. As far as live, we have changed lighting a little bit to reflect the color scheme of the album art. Other than that, we've played with some ideas, but nothing is finalized yet.

Aurora: We have always tried to create a really dense atmosphere live using fog, light, weird color, shadows that kind of thing. That's always been important and will continue to be. We have some other grand ideas, but we'll see how that pans out.

What do you have on the calendar for the album release and this coming fall?

Aurora: We have our record release show in Baltimore—we're opening for Sacramentum and Crossspitter, and I am very, very excited about that. I'm a huge fan of Melissa Moore and all of her projects, and also Sacramentum. I guess it's their first US tour, so that's gonna be pretty rad. The actual record release weekend, August 24 and 25, we're going to be up in Rochester and New Jersey, [and we have] a nine-date tour of Northeast starting at the end of September going into October.

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From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire releases today via Prosthetic Records.

As any fan knows, black metal's exploration of evil sometimes coincides with toxic politics. Bands interested in the occult all too often reveal themselves to also be interested in retrogressive ideas or outright chauvinism—it can be a tiring process to separate the corpse-painted wheat from the chaff.

Enter Nixil.

Working with weapons from the trve black metal arsenal—elaborate stagecraft, anti-establishment sentiment, a sincere interest in the occult—while standing firm in antifascism and a commitment to playing live, the Baltimore five-piece made minor waves with All Knots Untied and a busy touring schedule in 2021 and 2022. The band is returning later this month with their second full-length and Prosthetic records debut, From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire, and it builds on Nixil's punk-informed black metal in harrowing ways.

The album consists of six punishing tracks including singles "Collapsing the Poles" and "Abyss to Abyss." From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire is rich with detail from beginning to end, with each song clocking in between six and a half and eight minutes. Nixil pack every moment with riffs, fills and lead vocalist C's spectral howl. The album has exquisite dramatic timing, with melee verses following chanted bridges and swells of dueling guitars. In sum, this is "traditional" black metal done right and without the taint of noxious politics.

That extends to the record's conceptual framework. C maintains a strong interest in gnosticism and magick, and From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire delves into their anticosmic explorations, which form the foundation for Nixil's lyrics and live show. The band even brought the occult into the studio through an impromptu ceremony before recording closer "The Way Is the Grave."

I spoke to C and Nixil bassist and backing vocalist Aurora about antifascism in black metal, the occult, the band's visual elements and From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire, which is out August 25. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

...

...

Before we get into the record itself, let's talk about the state of black metal. Nixil is avowedly antifascist in a time when lots of bands feel compelled to pick sides—what prompted you to stake out that ideological territory, and how does that reflect what's happening in your music?

C: At least for a couple of us, we've been in the fight against fascism for a long, long time, most of our lives in some cases. Some of us have been involved in anarchist organizing and stuff like that. It's just obvious—fascism is insidious and totally asinine. The whole concept is just mind-blowingly stupid, and the fact that it's rearing its ugly head so obviously and without fear these days made it feel important to us to state outright that we don't want anything to do with that. It's so insidious in black metal culture in general. People are either indifferent to it or "pro-it," but really a lot of people who say they're pro-fascism are just trying to be fucking dumbass edgelords because it seems edgy or scary without looking at what the real ramifications of that concept are.

Aurora: It is scary, though, but it's not aesthetically scary; it's life-threateningly, universe-threateningly actually scary. Something we've talked about a lot is that folks don't tend to take things to their logical conclusion. [They] can sport these symbols and walk away scot-free without recognizing that it actually has a huge impact on people's lives and safety and the future in general. I do want to say we don't talk about politics overtly in our music at all. That's kind of why, at least for me, it's felt important to say that we're a group of antifascist people. There's a lot of cryptofascist imagery with music and gross dog whistles, and people don't come out one way or the other, or just say "we're apolitical." Thematically, our music and art are officially "apolitical," but it's not about politics; it's about self-defense, and that seems like a no-brainer to me. Fascism is fucking bad. People who espouse an image like that also aren't necessarily the type of people who end up on top if fascism does take over.

So as far as the thematic underpinnings of the new record, what are you all working with?

C: Most of the lyrics and imagery are based on my spiritual and magickal practices, which, broadly, are termed chaos-gnostic. There's a strong association with what people call anticosmic satanism, but I don't use those terms overtly mostly because so many black metal bands do and don't know what the fuck they're talking about. It's just a big veneer people put on. I choose to express my gnosis and understanding of this work through terms that are not painted in such common structures. Every song sans "In Thrall," which that is directly cursing those of the fascist milieu, all the other songs [on From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire] are based on experiences I've had in doing this work. Aurora: As a person who doesn't write the lyrics, something we tend to fall back on is that the concepts are really about liberation—whatever that means—and breaking through systems of oppression, whether they're esoteric, spiritual, literal political systems of oppression or even the things within ourselves that hold us back. That's kind of the concept of our first single, which was "Collapsing the Poles."

I wanted to ask about "Collapsing the Poles" specifically, because at first I imagined it being something like a colossal revival tent collapsing on itself.

C:The symbolism inherently the magnetic concept. It's the idea that everything in our world exists on a spectrum, and in order to move freely, realistically you need to be nothing instead of an identification with something. So the idea is collapsing the "as above, so below" concept into a nothingness instead of always being a reflection of the universe around you, or of God as a demiurgic existential concept. Basically, in this work, you recognize that, at all times, you are a reflection of that concept until you start breaking it down and attempting not to be it anymore. That's what "Collapsing the Poles" is supposed to entail. It sounds like Nixil has had some shifts in lineup. How did this play into recording From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire live, where everything is kind of happening all at once?

Aurora: We've always recorded live. We did with the first album, too. I think it's kind of hearkening back to most of our punk backgrounds—the idea of having to do single-tracking to a click just doesn't really flow for us. We also identify ourselves as being a live band. Our live shows have always been the most important piece of all of it for us, where we connect with folks the most and engage with the music the most, so being able to harness that energy in a studio space has always really been important. We worked with Jay Robbins on this album and the last album. He's got this super beautiful punk-rock pedigree from being in Jawbox. As for the lineup change, the four of us—myself, C and our drummer [guitarist] Shane—have been together since the beginning, and our new-not-really-new guitarist Alden has been with us pretty much since we first started playing live. It was a really natural kind of synchronistic connection. He's pretty rad.
I recently interviewed James Plotkin about his music and mastering work. What was he able to do for this album's sound?

Aurora: Having been in a bunch of bands that have recorded in various ways and put things out on vinyl, he is the person that I always go to for mastering because he knows how to do bass so well. That's never lost on vinyl, and for me, that's been super rare, being the bassist… He's a super-prolific and amazing musician. Working with J. Robbins vs. James [Plotkin], they have such a different energy. J. in the studio is very laid back and kind of just does whatever and will throw out ideas, and before [recording] the last song on the record, we ended up doing this in-studio ritual with some things that happened to be lying around, and he was involved in that, and it was again very synchronistic. Working with James, mastering is a lot more of a technical procedure or process skill—he just is so good at finding little nuances and bringing things out.

One important part of the album is how it's presented to the public. How do you work on the visual aspect of your releases, and what will it look like when you take this record on the road?

C: The visual aspect just kind of came to me at one point. I painted the cover art. It's also a visual representation of everything that the album is about.

Aurora: I'll say, too, that there's an insert that our drummer Key did, and our guitarist Shane is a photographer and videographer—he did a shoot with Max Cavalera for Decibel, I believe, and there's a crazy outtake photo that Max wasn't in, when was prepping the space with smoke, and for whatever reason [Shane] doubled [the exposure], and having doubled it you could see all these figures coming out of the smoke. That's what became the back cover of the record. The four of them [the other members of Nixil] are all very prolific visual artists.

C: We all work together really well as far as our visual art… we didn't approach this record's album art saying, "this record is going to be about fire, and all the visuals are going to be fire;" they just kind of synchronistically came out that way. That's always how we've worked—we have a strong connection to each other, and through connection to the other side, that which is bigger, we are offered synchronicities that help us move forward and express ourselves in that way. As far as live, we have changed lighting a little bit to reflect the color scheme of the album art. Other than that, we've played with some ideas, but nothing is finalized yet.

Aurora: We have always tried to create a really dense atmosphere live using fog, light, weird color, shadows that kind of thing. That's always been important and will continue to be. We have some other grand ideas, but we'll see how that pans out.

What do you have on the calendar for the album release and this coming fall?

Aurora: We have our record release show in Baltimore—we're opening for Sacramentum and Crossspitter, and I am very, very excited about that. I'm a huge fan of Melissa Moore and all of her projects, and also Sacramentum. I guess it's their first US tour, so that's gonna be pretty rad. The actual record release weekend, August 24 and 25, we're going to be up in Rochester and New Jersey, [and we have] a nine-date tour of Northeast starting at the end of September going into October.

...

From the Wound Spilled Forth Fire releases today via Prosthetic Records.

There’s no homework necessary to prepare for Ringworm’s recently released Seeing Through Fire. If you’re at all familiar with them across their 30-year history then you know their metallic hardcore is more riffs than breakdown, equal parts thrash and grindcore, and purely vitriolic. The group’s evergreen quality is in part due to their stubbornness and belief in their own identity. They’ve never attempted to disrupt their sound. Instead, they adjust it on a microscopic scale. However, Seeing Through Fire is as close to a return to their roots as possible for Ringworm, as if it’s been encased in ice since the early 90s. It’s as pure of a representation of the band as their debut. Persistence and consistency are the keys to Ringworm. Nothing on Seeing Through Fire should shock regular listeners, but that’s not the point. As with any act that garners a reputation for reliable quality, Ringworm have cultivated an impossible-to-fully replicate aesthetic, something that vocalist James “Human Furnace” Bulloch is aware of, though even he can’t quite put his finger on their X-factor. The surprise of a new Ringworm release isn’t the sound, but the fact that they’re still so good and worth listening to without changing too much. Like other legacy acts such as Motorhead, you don’t turn to Ringworm for innovation, you tune in for how they use their tools. Though, in the case of their latest album, there is a surprise guest solo from Voivod’s Daniel Mongrain, one that disorients Ringworm’s framework and, through deeper inspection, reveals Human Furnace’s approach to vocals. Prior to Seeing Through Fire’s release, the gruff Human Furnace chatted with us about the group’s songwriting process, their longevity, and his side project Gluttons.

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Do you find that your influences have gotten newer and more modern as the years have gone on? James Bulloch: It all starts with Matt (Sorg). He’s our songwriter. We’re all in our early 50s but mentally we’re all frozen at 15, and Matt’s one of those guys that if something came out after 1988, in his eyes, it sucks. That’s fine, it keeps what we do pure. It keeps us sounding the way we sound. Lyrically, I just add my two cents to it, and vocally I don’t have much range. My musical toolbox has three hammers in it - a large one, a small one, and a medium one. You’ve mentioned before how Ringworm is like Motorhead or AC/DC where you can go into a new album already knowing what you’ll hear. As the new album shows, the music still holds up. There’s still music to be mined from an unchanging approach, and it’s interesting to think about it that way. Yeah, we’ve never found the need to change anything. Everyone in this band plays in other bands. I don’t particularly listen to a ton of bands that sound like Ringworm. There are a ton of bands that play heavy and fast, and I listen to them and they’re great, but I don’t usually listen to that type of music a lot. But I’m not going to bring my outside influences into Ringworm because Ringworm is its own thing. And I think all of us in the band know what we do best so we stick with it. We still try to improve on that and reinvent our own wheel, though not reinvent the wheel, but we keep it the same but change it up slightly. To the untrained ear, it all sounds the same. But you could say that to just about any genre. You could listen to a country song if you’re not a country fan and say it all sounds the same. But if you’re a country fan then you can point out if a song is different from another. Looking at it from a musician’s perspective, some of it comes down to you pushing yourselves, even if that doesn’t come through. Making smaller advancements is self-fulfilling in a way. It’s easy for Matt because he’s a riff machine. I mean, he probably has another record ready for us now, I wouldn’t doubt it. He has no trouble pumping music out. Whatever direction he’s feeling for a song or album in general. Baked into our DNA from the start has been hardcore, grindcore, thrash, and even some doomy riffs, we’ve mixed it all together. And from record to record, sometimes the percentages vary. But with the new one, we’ve taken it back to the early days when things were even across the board. It’s riff-centric. I mean, we’ve never been a breakdown-focused band. We have breakdowns, but some bands are 95% breakdowns whereas we’ve always been about the riffs. Speaking of that, you have Daniel Mongrain on “Death Hoax.” Oh yeah, that was such a score to be able to get him to do this. We’re all huge Voivod fans, and we’ve had the chance to tour with them a few times. On a personal level, it’s 15-year-old James’ dream. They’re awesome dudes and we’ve gotten to be decent friends with them. When we were getting to the end of the record it was a weird time cause it was the pandemic and the lockdown and everything was all fucked up. We were able to get ahold of him. We’re not huge on bringing in a ton of guests, but we thought we should give Dan a shot. He agreed to do a solo for Ringworm and we didn’t know what we were gonna get with it. We were so pumped when he sent it back to us because the style is so weird. It’s insane, his timing, everything about it is so unusual but it’s amazing. It contrasts with Matt’s style. They’re so different but Dan’s contribution fits the song so well. I love that song so it’s gonna be tough to play it live without Dan, so Matt is gonna have to buckle down and learn to play it. What’s weird about it is that I didn’t do the vocals for it yet. I do my vocals last after everything gets done. When I heard the solo, it sounded bizarre, and I mean that in the best way. It sounded so out of Ringworm’s wheelhouse. So, you may not be able to hear it, and if we had a lot of time we could sit down and go through it, but I fashioned my vocal patterns after the keys in Dan’s solo. This is all techy, but simply, I tinkered with my timing, phonetics, and lyrics to fit his solo, so it makes the solo come in more smoothly and make a ton of sense. I use some of the keys from his solo in the lyrical timing. It blends a bit better, and it’s very slight, but I thought it helped make the song flow better. That leads me to my next question since you’re responsible for the lyrics. “Thought Crimes” as you said in the press release, is about “trying to have your own thoughts amongst an ocean of controlled marketing, algorithms, and forced tribalism”, and I was wondering if you brought in those ideas yourself, or if you discussed it with the band? Sometimes I have some stuff prepared that doesn’t have a home yet, but usually, I wait. How a song sounds dictates what I think the song feels like. It starts there, and a lot of times I won’t even know what the song is about. Sometimes I go into it with an idea, sometimes I go in just writing shit and I don’t know what it means until years later and I look at it down the road. But “Thought Crimes” was more focused on algorithms, marketing, and the constant barrage of commercialism, and people shoehorning opinions down your throat. We’re bombarded by it 24/7 and it’s been like that for decades. Someone is always trying to get something over on you. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, but if you stand back and look at it, you can see how someone is trying to sell you something. Then, everyone is selling something to you. It’s funny you say that cause it seems like those market forces don’t affect Ringworm, given that you’ve stuck in the same lane for 30 years. It’s not a super commercial space. So were these topics about how they affect you? Oh yeah, it’s all about that. Everything I do is about that. That’s what I know the best, or I think I do. I’ve never been one to preach about anyone or anything, cause who am I? I’m just some dude. I’m no better or worse than anyone, so I just sing about myself. I try not to be high and mighty. Some bands are very preachy, you know what I mean, and I’m sure you’ve seen it too, when some bands go up on stage and go into their spiel and you think, “Man, I know that guy or chick, and they’re a piece of shit.” That’s fine, but that’s why I try not to get into the preachier side of things. I still fuck up a lot, so I sing about what I know, which is being confused by life and all the bullshit that goes on after 51 years on this planet. There’s always more shit. Topically that’s what the record sounds like it’s about. “Thought Crimes” “Mental Decontrol,” and “Playing God,” share a common theme. Well, the world seems to be on fire, doesn’t it? That’s the analogy we’re going for there. You’ve gotta try to see through it, to the other side, if there is one. The whole world is on fire, so you can get lit up if you don’t try to see through it. You might not make it. Nobody gets out alive. What helps you see it through? It’s tough, like anybody else, you get up and go through life. You try to deal with the blows and bullshit that you’ll get. It’s not easy and it’s not easy for anybody to see your way through this life. Everyone has their setbacks and bullshit that they need to deal with. It helps that I have an outlet where I can scream and yell about it. It’s therapeutic, and it’s always been for me. At least I have that. You have Ringworm for that and Gluttons where you can take a more backseat approach. Yeah, and that’s more fun when it comes to playing it. Ringworm is a little more serious. Do you spend more time thinking about Ringworm than Gluttons, or is it the other way around? When it’s time to be in Ringworm mode, I snap a finger and I get into it. But in-between records and touring, we’re trying to keep Gluttons going. But that’s a bit tougher because that’s not a traveling band or a touring band. We don’t even have a label but we put out as much material as we can. We’re trying to get it on the road, but everyone is always doing other stuff. It’s the ultimate sideband. But the band does well and we’d like to get it out on the road, but it’s everyone’s side band. But, I mean, I write all the songs and some of the lyrics. Our singer Kevin takes it from there. I build some patterns and vocal hooks but he does the rest. I maybe take it a bit more seriously than everyone else but that’s cause it’s my writing outlet. I get to write for that, you know. But it’s tough cause if we get offered to tour with someone for two weeks we’d have to seriously consider it. I’m used to that touring life, but some of the other guys would have to consider taking off time from work or who’s gonna take care of their kids. They’re not used to that life or that aspect of being in a band. I find it interesting that you’ve never taken that songwriting responsibility from Gluttons into Ringworm. You know, I can’t compete with Matt on that same level. That’s his bread and butter, so I don't step on that. And that's okay, he’s not looking for any help and I can’t provide it because he’s a fucking awesome guitar player and I do what I can. Ed Stephens is in Gluttons too and he’s a monster bass player. Fucking sick. So, with Gluttons, I write a basic backbone of a song with some trickery, I do what I can, and our guitarist Aaron (Dowell) along with the other players I trust them. They're all awesome so I trust them to do their thing in their parts. Then it all comes together. I’m just the backbone but they're the icing on the cake to make it a good rock song. That's good for you cause you get to focus on building a strong foundation. That's it, exactly. I work on the structures, dynamics, and timings. It's fun building those songs. I work on them for a while so they don’t come together as quickly as Ringworm stuff, but Ringworm is much more streamlined.

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Seeing Through Fire released August 18th via Nuclear Blast.

There’s no homework necessary to prepare for Ringworm’s recently released Seeing Through Fire. If you’re at all familiar with them across their 30-year history then you know their metallic hardcore is more riffs than breakdown, equal parts thrash and grindcore, and purely vitriolic. The group’s evergreen quality is in part due to their stubbornness and belief in their own identity. They’ve never attempted to disrupt their sound. Instead, they adjust it on a microscopic scale. However, Seeing Through Fire is as close to a return to their roots as possible for Ringworm, as if it’s been encased in ice since the early 90s. It’s as pure of a representation of the band as their debut. Persistence and consistency are the keys to Ringworm. Nothing on Seeing Through Fire should shock regular listeners, but that’s not the point. As with any act that garners a reputation for reliable quality, Ringworm have cultivated an impossible-to-fully replicate aesthetic, something that vocalist James “Human Furnace” Bulloch is aware of, though even he can’t quite put his finger on their X-factor. The surprise of a new Ringworm release isn’t the sound, but the fact that they’re still so good and worth listening to without changing too much. Like other legacy acts such as Motorhead, you don’t turn to Ringworm for innovation, you tune in for how they use their tools. Though, in the case of their latest album, there is a surprise guest solo from Voivod’s Daniel Mongrain, one that disorients Ringworm’s framework and, through deeper inspection, reveals Human Furnace’s approach to vocals. Prior to Seeing Through Fire’s release, the gruff Human Furnace chatted with us about the group’s songwriting process, their longevity, and his side project Gluttons.

...

...

Do you find that your influences have gotten newer and more modern as the years have gone on? James Bulloch: It all starts with Matt (Sorg). He’s our songwriter. We’re all in our early 50s but mentally we’re all frozen at 15, and Matt’s one of those guys that if something came out after 1988, in his eyes, it sucks. That’s fine, it keeps what we do pure. It keeps us sounding the way we sound. Lyrically, I just add my two cents to it, and vocally I don’t have much range. My musical toolbox has three hammers in it - a large one, a small one, and a medium one. You’ve mentioned before how Ringworm is like Motorhead or AC/DC where you can go into a new album already knowing what you’ll hear. As the new album shows, the music still holds up. There’s still music to be mined from an unchanging approach, and it’s interesting to think about it that way. Yeah, we’ve never found the need to change anything. Everyone in this band plays in other bands. I don’t particularly listen to a ton of bands that sound like Ringworm. There are a ton of bands that play heavy and fast, and I listen to them and they’re great, but I don’t usually listen to that type of music a lot. But I’m not going to bring my outside influences into Ringworm because Ringworm is its own thing. And I think all of us in the band know what we do best so we stick with it. We still try to improve on that and reinvent our own wheel, though not reinvent the wheel, but we keep it the same but change it up slightly. To the untrained ear, it all sounds the same. But you could say that to just about any genre. You could listen to a country song if you’re not a country fan and say it all sounds the same. But if you’re a country fan then you can point out if a song is different from another. Looking at it from a musician’s perspective, some of it comes down to you pushing yourselves, even if that doesn’t come through. Making smaller advancements is self-fulfilling in a way. It’s easy for Matt because he’s a riff machine. I mean, he probably has another record ready for us now, I wouldn’t doubt it. He has no trouble pumping music out. Whatever direction he’s feeling for a song or album in general. Baked into our DNA from the start has been hardcore, grindcore, thrash, and even some doomy riffs, we’ve mixed it all together. And from record to record, sometimes the percentages vary. But with the new one, we’ve taken it back to the early days when things were even across the board. It’s riff-centric. I mean, we’ve never been a breakdown-focused band. We have breakdowns, but some bands are 95% breakdowns whereas we’ve always been about the riffs. Speaking of that, you have Daniel Mongrain on “Death Hoax.” Oh yeah, that was such a score to be able to get him to do this. We’re all huge Voivod fans, and we’ve had the chance to tour with them a few times. On a personal level, it’s 15-year-old James’ dream. They’re awesome dudes and we’ve gotten to be decent friends with them. When we were getting to the end of the record it was a weird time cause it was the pandemic and the lockdown and everything was all fucked up. We were able to get ahold of him. We’re not huge on bringing in a ton of guests, but we thought we should give Dan a shot. He agreed to do a solo for Ringworm and we didn’t know what we were gonna get with it. We were so pumped when he sent it back to us because the style is so weird. It’s insane, his timing, everything about it is so unusual but it’s amazing. It contrasts with Matt’s style. They’re so different but Dan’s contribution fits the song so well. I love that song so it’s gonna be tough to play it live without Dan, so Matt is gonna have to buckle down and learn to play it. What’s weird about it is that I didn’t do the vocals for it yet. I do my vocals last after everything gets done. When I heard the solo, it sounded bizarre, and I mean that in the best way. It sounded so out of Ringworm’s wheelhouse. So, you may not be able to hear it, and if we had a lot of time we could sit down and go through it, but I fashioned my vocal patterns after the keys in Dan’s solo. This is all techy, but simply, I tinkered with my timing, phonetics, and lyrics to fit his solo, so it makes the solo come in more smoothly and make a ton of sense. I use some of the keys from his solo in the lyrical timing. It blends a bit better, and it’s very slight, but I thought it helped make the song flow better. That leads me to my next question since you’re responsible for the lyrics. “Thought Crimes” as you said in the press release, is about “trying to have your own thoughts amongst an ocean of controlled marketing, algorithms, and forced tribalism”, and I was wondering if you brought in those ideas yourself, or if you discussed it with the band? Sometimes I have some stuff prepared that doesn’t have a home yet, but usually, I wait. How a song sounds dictates what I think the song feels like. It starts there, and a lot of times I won’t even know what the song is about. Sometimes I go into it with an idea, sometimes I go in just writing shit and I don’t know what it means until years later and I look at it down the road. But “Thought Crimes” was more focused on algorithms, marketing, and the constant barrage of commercialism, and people shoehorning opinions down your throat. We’re bombarded by it 24/7 and it’s been like that for decades. Someone is always trying to get something over on you. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, but if you stand back and look at it, you can see how someone is trying to sell you something. Then, everyone is selling something to you. It’s funny you say that cause it seems like those market forces don’t affect Ringworm, given that you’ve stuck in the same lane for 30 years. It’s not a super commercial space. So were these topics about how they affect you? Oh yeah, it’s all about that. Everything I do is about that. That’s what I know the best, or I think I do. I’ve never been one to preach about anyone or anything, cause who am I? I’m just some dude. I’m no better or worse than anyone, so I just sing about myself. I try not to be high and mighty. Some bands are very preachy, you know what I mean, and I’m sure you’ve seen it too, when some bands go up on stage and go into their spiel and you think, “Man, I know that guy or chick, and they’re a piece of shit.” That’s fine, but that’s why I try not to get into the preachier side of things. I still fuck up a lot, so I sing about what I know, which is being confused by life and all the bullshit that goes on after 51 years on this planet. There’s always more shit. Topically that’s what the record sounds like it’s about. “Thought Crimes” “Mental Decontrol,” and “Playing God,” share a common theme. Well, the world seems to be on fire, doesn’t it? That’s the analogy we’re going for there. You’ve gotta try to see through it, to the other side, if there is one. The whole world is on fire, so you can get lit up if you don’t try to see through it. You might not make it. Nobody gets out alive. What helps you see it through? It’s tough, like anybody else, you get up and go through life. You try to deal with the blows and bullshit that you’ll get. It’s not easy and it’s not easy for anybody to see your way through this life. Everyone has their setbacks and bullshit that they need to deal with. It helps that I have an outlet where I can scream and yell about it. It’s therapeutic, and it’s always been for me. At least I have that. You have Ringworm for that and Gluttons where you can take a more backseat approach. Yeah, and that’s more fun when it comes to playing it. Ringworm is a little more serious. Do you spend more time thinking about Ringworm than Gluttons, or is it the other way around? When it’s time to be in Ringworm mode, I snap a finger and I get into it. But in-between records and touring, we’re trying to keep Gluttons going. But that’s a bit tougher because that’s not a traveling band or a touring band. We don’t even have a label but we put out as much material as we can. We’re trying to get it on the road, but everyone is always doing other stuff. It’s the ultimate sideband. But the band does well and we’d like to get it out on the road, but it’s everyone’s side band. But, I mean, I write all the songs and some of the lyrics. Our singer Kevin takes it from there. I build some patterns and vocal hooks but he does the rest. I maybe take it a bit more seriously than everyone else but that’s cause it’s my writing outlet. I get to write for that, you know. But it’s tough cause if we get offered to tour with someone for two weeks we’d have to seriously consider it. I’m used to that touring life, but some of the other guys would have to consider taking off time from work or who’s gonna take care of their kids. They’re not used to that life or that aspect of being in a band. I find it interesting that you’ve never taken that songwriting responsibility from Gluttons into Ringworm. You know, I can’t compete with Matt on that same level. That’s his bread and butter, so I don't step on that. And that's okay, he’s not looking for any help and I can’t provide it because he’s a fucking awesome guitar player and I do what I can. Ed Stephens is in Gluttons too and he’s a monster bass player. Fucking sick. So, with Gluttons, I write a basic backbone of a song with some trickery, I do what I can, and our guitarist Aaron (Dowell) along with the other players I trust them. They're all awesome so I trust them to do their thing in their parts. Then it all comes together. I’m just the backbone but they're the icing on the cake to make it a good rock song. That's good for you cause you get to focus on building a strong foundation. That's it, exactly. I work on the structures, dynamics, and timings. It's fun building those songs. I work on them for a while so they don’t come together as quickly as Ringworm stuff, but Ringworm is much more streamlined.

...

Seeing Through Fire released August 18th via Nuclear Blast.

In But Not Of is a fitting title for Afterbirth's forthcoming full-length—This record is in, but not of, brutal death metal. Following 2020's excellent Four Dimensional Flesh, this group of New York veterans have blasted even further beyond their murky early '90s roots and seem poised to leave the orbit of death metal for a more unfettered, celestial take on the genre. Gross song themes aside, Afterbirth have always sounded tighter and more cerebral than your typical brutal death or goregrind act. In But Not Of, however, takes even more frequent excursions into melody than the band's previous releases. The building blocks of brutal death metal are here, to be sure: vocalist Will Smith's bowel-shaking gurgles still channel each song's intent; guitarist Cody Drasser still layers Byzantine guitar lines atop Keith Harris and David Case's laser-focused rhythms. However, synth textures, organic drum sounds, higher-register vocals, and lofty guitar lines propel this record beyond anything Afterbirth have previously recorded. Like Voyager 2 leaving the Solar System, Afterbirth now have a foot planted firmly outside of death metal. Nowhere is this clearer than on "Hovering Human Head Drones," premiering below ahead of the album's October release. Moving at a languid pace and wrapped in ethereal sounds, "Hovering Human Head Drones" sounds less like Event Horizon and more like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

...

https://youtu.be/465EFZ5SIvg

...

Afterbirth have proved themselves to be fearless explorers of death metal's outer limits. In shedding some of the pulverizing textures of their earlier work, these Long Islanders have given themselves room to expand. By turns contemplative and oppressive, "Hovering Human Head Drones" neatly encapsulates In But Not Of's ambition and breadth.

...

In But Not Of releases October 20th via Willowtip Records.

In But Not Of is a fitting title for Afterbirth's forthcoming full-length—This record is in, but not of, brutal death metal. Following 2020's excellent Four Dimensional Flesh, this group of New York veterans have blasted even further beyond their murky early '90s roots and seem poised to leave the orbit of death metal for a more unfettered, celestial take on the genre. Gross song themes aside, Afterbirth have always sounded tighter and more cerebral than your typical brutal death or goregrind act. In But Not Of, however, takes even more frequent excursions into melody than the band's previous releases. The building blocks of brutal death metal are here, to be sure: vocalist Will Smith's bowel-shaking gurgles still channel each song's intent; guitarist Cody Drasser still layers Byzantine guitar lines atop Keith Harris and David Case's laser-focused rhythms. However, synth textures, organic drum sounds, higher-register vocals, and lofty guitar lines propel this record beyond anything Afterbirth have previously recorded. Like Voyager 2 leaving the Solar System, Afterbirth now have a foot planted firmly outside of death metal. Nowhere is this clearer than on "Hovering Human Head Drones," premiering below ahead of the album's October release. Moving at a languid pace and wrapped in ethereal sounds, "Hovering Human Head Drones" sounds less like Event Horizon and more like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

...

https://youtu.be/465EFZ5SIvg

...

Afterbirth have proved themselves to be fearless explorers of death metal's outer limits. In shedding some of the pulverizing textures of their earlier work, these Long Islanders have given themselves room to expand. By turns contemplative and oppressive, "Human Head Drones" neatly encapsulates In But Not Of's ambition and breadth.

...

In But Not Of releases October 20th via Willowtip Records.

In But Not Of is a fitting title for Afterbirth's forthcoming full-length—This record is in, but not of, brutal death metal. Following 2020's excellent Four Dimensional Flesh, this group of New York veterans have blasted even further beyond their murky early '90s roots and seem poised to leave the orbit of death metal for a more unfettered, celestial take on the genre. Gross song themes aside, Afterbirth have always sounded tighter and more cerebral than your typical brutal death or goregrind act. In But Not Of, however, takes even more frequent excursions into melody than the band's previous releases. The building blocks of brutal death metal are here, to be sure: vocalist Will Smith's bowel-shaking gurgles still channel each song's intent; guitarist Cody Drasser still layers Byzantine guitar lines atop Keith Harris and David Case's laser-focused rhythms. However, synth textures, organic drum sounds, higher-register vocals, and lofty guitar lines propel this record beyond anything Afterbirth have previously recorded. Like Voyager 2 leaving the Solar System, Afterbirth now have a foot planted firmly outside of death metal. Nowhere is this clearer than on "Hovering Human Head Drones," premiering below ahead of the album's October release. Moving at a languid pace and wrapped in ethereal sounds, "Hovering Human Head Drones" sounds less like Event Horizon and more like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

...

https://youtu.be/465EFZ5SIvg

...

Afterbirth have proved themselves to be fearless explorers of death metal's outer limits. In shedding some of the pulverizing textures of their earlier work, these Long Islanders have given themselves room to expand. By turns contemplative and oppressive, "Human Head Drones" neatly encapsulates In But Not Of's ambition and breadth.

...

In But Not Of releases October 20th via Willowtip Records.

In But Not Of is a fitting title for Afterbirth's forthcoming full-length—This record is in, but not of, brutal death metal. Following 2020's excellent Four Dimensional Flesh, this group of New York veterans have blasted even further beyond their murky early '90s roots and seem poised to leave the orbit of death metal for a more unfettered, celestial take on the genre. Gross song themes aside, Afterbirth have always sounded tighter and more cerebral than your typical brutal death or goregrind act. In But Not Of, however, takes even more frequent excursions into melody than the band's previous releases. The building blocks of brutal death metal are here, to be sure: vocalist Will Smith's bowel-shaking gurgles still channel each song's intent; guitarist Cody Drasser still layers Byzantine guitar lines atop Keith Harris and David Case's laser-focused rhythms. However, synth textures, organic drum sounds, higher-register vocals, and lofty guitar lines propel this record beyond anything Afterbirth have previously recorded. Like Voyager 2 leaving the Solar System, Afterbirth now have a foot planted firmly outside of death metal. Nowhere is this clearer than on "Hovering Human Head Drones," premiering below ahead of the album's October release. Moving at a languid pace and wrapped in ethereal sounds, "Hovering Human Head Drones" sounds less like Event Horizon and more like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

...

https://youtu.be/465EFZ5SIvg

...

Afterbirth have proved themselves to be fearless explorers of death metal's outer limits. In shedding some of the pulverizing textures of their earlier work, these Long Islanders have given themselves room to expand. By turns contemplative and oppressive, "Human Head Drones" neatly encapsulates In But Not Of's ambition and breadth.

...

In But Not Of releases October 20th via Willowtip Records.

In But Not Of is a fitting title for Afterbirth's forthcoming full-length—This record is in, but not of, brutal death metal. Following 2020's excellent Four Dimensional Flesh, this group of New York veterans have blasted even further beyond their murky early '90s roots and seem poised to leave the orbit of death metal for a more unfettered, celestial take on the genre. Gross song themes aside, Afterbirth have always sounded tighter and more cerebral than your typical brutal death or goregrind act. In But Not Of, however, takes even more frequent excursions into melody than the band's previous releases. The building blocks of brutal death metal are here, to be sure: vocalist Will Smith's bowel-shaking gurgles still channel each song's intent; guitarist Cody Drasser still layers Byzantine guitar lines atop Keith Harris and David Case's laser-focused rhythms. However, synth textures, organic drum sounds, higher-register vocals, and lofty guitar lines propel this record beyond anything Afterbirth have previously recorded. Like Voyager 2 leaving the Solar System, Afterbirth now have a foot planted firmly outside of death metal. Nowhere is this clearer than on "Hovering Human Head Drones," premiering below ahead of the album's October release. Moving at a languid pace and wrapped in ethereal sounds, "Hovering Human Head Drones" sounds less like Event Horizon and more like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

...

https://youtu.be/465EFZ5SIvg

...

Afterbirth have proved themselves to be fearless explorers of death metal's outer limits. In shedding some of the pulverizing textures of their earlier work, these Long Islanders have given themselves room to expand. By turns contemplative and oppressive, "Human Head Drones" neatly encapsulates In But Not Of's ambition and breadth.

...

In But Not Of releases October 20th via Willowtip Records.

In But Not Of is a fitting title for Afterbirth's forthcoming full-length—This record is in, but not of, brutal death metal. Following 2020's excellent Four Dimensional Flesh, this group of New York veterans have blasted even further beyond their murky early '90s roots and seem poised to leave the orbit of death metal for a more unfettered, celestial take on the genre. Gross song themes aside, Afterbirth have always sounded tighter and more cerebral than your typical brutal death or goregrind act. In But Not Of, however, takes even more frequent excursions into melody than the band's previous releases. The building blocks of brutal death metal are here, to be sure: vocalist Will Smith's bowel-shaking gurgles still channel each song's intent; guitarist Cody Drasser still layers Byzantine guitar lines atop Keith Harris and David Case's laser-focused rhythms. However, synth textures, organic drum sounds, higher-register vocals, and lofty guitar lines propel this record beyond anything Afterbirth have previously recorded. Like Voyager 2 leaving the Solar System, Afterbirth now have a foot planted firmly outside of death metal. Nowhere is this clearer than on "Hovering Human Head Drones," premiering below ahead of the album's October release. Moving at a languid pace and wrapped in ethereal sounds, "Hovering Human Head Drones" sounds less like Event Horizon and more like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

...

https://youtu.be/465EFZ5SIvg

...

Afterbirth have proved themselves to be fearless explorers of death metal's outer limits. In shedding some of the pulverizing textures of their earlier work, these Long Islanders have given themselves room to expand. By turns contemplative and oppressive, "Human Head Drones" neatly encapsulates In But Not Of's ambition and breadth.

...

In But Not Of releases October 20th via Willowtip Records.