There are people who accompany you musically your whole life, maybe they are even of the same or a similar age. You might lose contact to that person's music once in a while but as you soon as you "re-connect", there is the same kind of close-ness, of connection, yes, of intimacy. For me, one of these voices is Jonah Matranga's, whose various projects have always resonated with me, mostly because of his voice which to me is the epitome of Emo, the good kind of Emo, not the shitty stuff that came in the late Aughts which bands who were more into mascara and stupid breakdowns than into making quality music - in his words and his songs there is always that ray of honesty. Now he has lent his skills for a new album with English Post-Stoner-Post-Hardcore veterans Sons of Alpha Centauri. Their first collaboration in 2021 was called "Push" and this new one is named "Pull" and believe me there are many pull-factors on these nine songs. Released again via Exile on Mainstream Records, this new record is a bit closer to Jonah's former combos and therefore the comparisons are obvious. But there is much more to talk about - his collaboration with the Deftones, Star Wars, his work with Far, hair, his connection to Sons of Alpha Centauri and much more. There is even a little quiz and a chance to win something for you all out there! So sit back and enjoy our latest interview!

Band links

Sons of Alpha Centauri

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonsofalphacentauri

Bandcamp: https://sonsofalphacentauri.bandcamp.com/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5N9S58a1trUvMiavf5vwFl

Website: https://www.sonsofalphacentauri.co.uk/

Exile on Mainstream Records:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcsZM_AT6d84jePpfRnygog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andreas.kohl.399

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exileonmainstreamofficial/

Website: https://www.mainstreamrecords.de/

Locrian is not your average band, these three guys are some of the most striking genre-hoppers I have ever encountered. So many genres are on here that many different people attach many different tags to it. Many call them Post-Metal, others label them as Avantgarde Noise but when you talk to the guys and get a grasp of their vast musical influences and tastes it becomes clear that they do not care about labels, they do not restrict their listening habits to any specific genre and thus their music should not be seen that way. There is just so much to find out on their upcoming new record "End Terrain" (out on Friday, April 5th, via Profound Lore Records) that if you try to find out all the elements on these songs you might have to start thinking about mindmaps and spreadsheets in order to organize your thoughts and analyses. However, talking with Andre, Steven and Terence about the record then shows a trio that is not dead serious but really easy to talk to. We hear about their love for Shoegaze, Post-Punk, Experimental sounds and so much more! Enjoy our interview!

Band links

Locrian

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LocrianOfficial

Bandcamp: https://locrian.bandcamp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/locrianofficial/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/3qg85LFImCJ1zIefm6urwC?si=tdEGlaRvThOi45xAfbwgvQ

Profound Lore:

Bandcamp: http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profoundlorerecords

Instagram: https://instagram.com/profoundlorerecords/

Website: https://profoundlorerecords.com/products-page/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_JwJlkjw7aeCSoYb3okn2w

Welcome to Part II of our Vægtløs - week! We promised you a lot for this week and we will keep our promise. We were very happy to talk with lyricist and vocalist of the band and admittedly this might not have been the happiest of conversations that we have had here on our VoS channel, this honestly ranks very high on our head honcho’s list because of the depth of this talk. “Enjoy” while you get to know a lot more about the depth of this record!

Aftryk might be a record of only a handful songs, but these songs hold so much content and most of it is looking at the darker side of life, aka death and we cope with it. In that sense it is very close to a record, Troels and Thorsten refer to quite a lot, Touché Amoré and their cancer-trauma record Stage Four! We have to say that the Danes might not be as well known as Jeremy Bolm, but believe us, when we say - they are to be reckoned with! Enjoy our interview and tell us, which record got you through some rough times?

Picture by Evgeny Salganik

Today is our J G D. Our what? Jeremy Galindo Day! Jonas gave you his review here here and we also spoke to the man behind the record, Jeremy Galindo, whom most of you will know as one of the guys behind TWDY. But beware and follow the instructions please!

We wanted you to listen to this track first as it is necessary to know what awaits us when The Introvert’s first full-length will be released via dunk!records on June 2nd. You should know that this is not a project by This Will Destroy You, it’s a project by one of its band members and as such it’s already quite different to one of the most successful post-rock bands. Jeremy is a easy to talk to person and thus talking with him about his love for film scores, ambient music and also the approach he had to making this kind of music was very easy and pleasant. He showed a lot of thoughtfullness and gave some insights on the correlationb between the records and the time when it was conceived, the pandemic. Carry the Bomb, Carry the Power is in a clear way a child of its time with a bright ray of hopefulness on the horizon. Enjoy our video and leave some feedback on our socials!

A few days ago we posted our first HipHop review here on Veil of Sound, a review of Dälek's latest record Precipice - and of course we were happy as f ... when Will Brooks aka MC Dälek agreed to do an interview with us. Therefore - here is our interview with none other than Dälek, enjoy!

One basically cannot talk about abstract hiphop without mentioning Dälek, an act that has revolutionized the notion of what hiphop can be by combining hiphop with noise, ambient and sometimes even metal ideas. His conscious rap approach to his lyrics also made Will an icon among those who try to see things from more than one angle within the hiphop community. Thorsten sat up with him and talked about the new record, his wish for hope in his music, his relationship to Ipecac and touring with bands like Jesu and ISIS, but also of course about the political situation in the US and the fact that Dälek is somewhat of an outsider in both genres - hiphop and noise. Sit down and sip up what the man's gotta say!

Picture by Al Overdrive
https://www.al-overdrive.com/

Interview-Sunday here on VoS and we are having another really famous guest - Greg Anderson. One half of Southern Lord, one half of SunnO))), member of legendary bands like Thor’s Hammer, Goatsnake or Engine Kid and now The Lord.

We were fortunate to talk with Greg about his new record, which he released via Southern Lord on April 23 and which serves as the soundtrack to a movie he scored. We talk about the album, some songs and features on it, the differences between THE LORD and SunnO))), his love for several of the classic horror filmscorers and his general passion for music. It surely was a pleasure talking to Greg and we hope you will enjoy this audio-interview as well:

Interview-Sunday here on VoS and we are having an interview with one of Italy’s finest bands when it comes to heaviness with a knack for melody - UFOMAMMUT! We talked to one of the few European bands on Neurot Recordings and gotten round to talk about their new line-up, their own label and listed a few bands from Italy we should all listen to. For several years now, the band has been releasing on Neurosis’ label and that hasn’t changed - also not now after their line-up change. They have a new drummer and in some ways that is also audible. Another reason to speak with the guys about the new songwriting and sound. Their next record Fenice (Italian for “Phoenix”) will be released this upcoming Friday, May 6th and we can only suggest all of you to listen to it then.

So, this is the weekend of our first birthday. Veil of Sound was launched on April 23rd and what should we say – we want to party! We gave you premieres (wait n see), we gave you some great reviews and now we want to give you an interview – once in a while on a Saturday. And you might even know the man… … because it is none other than Stephen O’Malley whom you might know from being one of the founders of Southern Lord Recordings, having been in bands like Thor’s Hammer, Burning Witch or a little band that he co-founded with Greg Anderson called Sunn O)))! It was an honor of speaking with Stephen and finding out about when he first got some good gear, how important the band is to him and which role he has in Southern Lord. It was a real pleasure to also find out about the fine humor inherent in Sunn O))) and their songs.

Whoever has listened to Stygian Bough, the side-project of Funeral Doom masterminds Bell Witch has also read the name Erik Moggridge at one point or another. Early this year, Erik released another full-length under his usual stage moniker, Aerial Ruin. It contains many points that should be talked about, amongst them a 21-minute folk-song (!), and thus we did exactly that and are really proud of being able to give you this interesting video interview with him. Enjoy!

Loss Seeking Flame (here you can find our review of it) is remarkable in the way it was written and in how the vocals were arranged because very often we do not here ONE Erik, but many Eriks. How? Well, you gotta listen to this interview to find out. And yes, this is a bit outside our usual Post-Rock and Post-Metal realms, but Aerial Ruin also represents perfectly what we are striving for: Shedding light on music one should pay attention to if not wanting to stick to the same same, over and over again. And one thing is for sure: You will be hard-pressed to find a record with a better arrangement of the vocals this year than Loss Seeking Flame. But now - enjoy our conversation with Erik Moggridge aka Aerial Ruin!

Heaviness is important! Really important. Many people would say that Chicago-based sludge/doom/noise band Indian are the heaviest thing they ever heard - if you listen to their records that becomes quite clear. But when listening to Copenhagen’s sludge-maniacs LLNN one has admit, there’s a strong new contender. Just let Unmaker cleanse your ears with corroded pincers and that will become quite apparent!

Unmaker (here you can find our review to it) is one of those records which will leave more than a bit of an impression on one’s ears and minds. And therefore we wanted to sit down with LLNN’s singer Christian Bonnesen and talk with him about riffs, sound and heaviness, about song titles, his recent bachelor party and his love for “the Bizkit”! A really enjoyable interview offering lots of knowledge about the band and Christian himself!

On Friday Ultha released their latest record - AOTY-material if anyone asks me - and it's a record that demands attention for all its glory. And of course we were honored, when Ralph suggested we could do the only video interview for it, one of only two interviews for the record. Not because of exclusive-ness but because the album is great and offers so much we can and must talk about! 

All That Has Never Been True is one of those records which come around not too often, and for a band like Ultha to release such an opus magnum after some turbulent years, a near-split, several new projects by the members of the band and of course, in the middle of this pandemic: This is a glorious return to form and there have been several voices who say that this is the band's best record to date. But there is so much more to talk about. So don't worry if your computer is broken, when it says that the length of the interview is over 90 (!) minutes - great things demand for a lot of attention to detail! Enjoy the video-interview or the podcast but most all - enjoy All That Has Never Been True!

Normally we do not do something like a news segment, because we think that there are much better sites for that. However, this one is somewhat different: a few days ago, Nathan Gray posted a longer text on his socials saying that he has to speak about his inner struggles with the promotion of his last album Rebel Songs and how he has to cope with the inadequacy of the marketing compared to the record. As this is a topic that interests us a lot as well, we met up for a short special interview and talked about it all, from different angles and perspectives and in detail. We consider this short interview one of our best to date. Tell us what you think! 

Thorsten sat down with Nathan and they talked about how he thinks that the promotion for the new record did not reflect on the nature of the songs and represented only a small part of Rebel Songs. He also clearly said that it was not about blaming anyone but him as he signed off on those things. They also looked at it from a historical perspective and set the whole discussion into deep and meaningful contexts with Nathan giving us a lot of insight into his inner turmoil and the result of it all. Give this one a good listen and think about the problems of marketing and promoting records in our time and day as this is definitely something to be aware of in a time when one can spent every minute of the day listening to a song from a new record. We wish Nathan all the best for his way and we can only encourage you to listen to the record once again.

Frank Zappa had one of the larger discographies with supposedly more than 60 full-lengths and countless live-records and more. Scott Heller aka Dr. Space surely can rival those numbers because his discography is also immeasurable and uncountable. Together with his main project the Øresund Space Collective he has 70 releases under his belt (as counted by Discogs) and thus we had enough to talk about. Enjoy! 

When listening to Øresund Space Collective one can totally understand the old saying by Timothy Leary: "Turn on, tune in and drop out" when he was talking about psychedelics and drugs - the Swedish-Danish collective is able to achieve this effect without the need for any narcotics. For me, being a straight-edger for life it has the effect that I can completely get lost in the sounds of Dr. Space and his fellow musicians. All very talented jammers with a perfect understanding of what they want to achieve with each specific jam. Scott talks about how the music is created and much more. So, sit back, turn on and understand.

There are some bands that take pride in playing 100 shows a year. Some 150. And there are bands like Hexis, who usually play somewhere around 200 shows a year. On more or less every continent. With tours that seem to take forever, their last one took them across the Americas, with only a few off-days here and there. We talked to Filip and got to learn a lot about their touring ethos and their general DIY attitude. How difficult it is to let go of control and some help from people outside the band. Who to trust and what these persons have to bring to the table. Enjoy this highly interesting interview!

This week's interview is a short one, but it is also a very fun one. Talking to one's favorite bands from back in the day, who are still around, is just an immense pleasure to do. When I had the opportunity to interview Hot Water Music I just had to do it. 

You can now listen to to this talk about their music and their new album on YouTube and via your favorite podcast streaming plattform. I really enjoyed talking with these guys even for just the 25 minutes we had. The band had their ups and downs over the years, bu with Feel The Void they have released an incredibly strong album, so were happy to have this talk with them available for you now.

It is always a pleasure to interview people who enjoy that situation and I would say the best interviews are those when humour and reflection meet. That combination is not always given but with Eugene S. Robinson it really always is. This time we interviewed him about the new record by his transcontinental band Buñuel!

A few weeks ago we already reviewed Killers Like Us by Buñuel and it got rave reactions by you our readers. We have already hinted at the fact that we interviewed Eugene about the band, their name, the way they write their music! And if you want to find out how Eugene perceived the difference between American and German cops well, here you can find out!

Okay, now everyone should have gotten it - we are going for separate video-interviews with every member of the most decisive hardcore band this side of the millennium, Converge. However, we don’t want to focus too much on the band itself, but on other topics related to it or sometimes not. This time we talk to Nate about the question of ethics in hardcore - how important are they and how important is our notion of ethics itself. In the end we arrive at a very differentiated picture of it all. Well, we talked with Jacob about the importance of visual art and then we had Kurt tell us something about the intricacies of production and everything that comes along with it. While we are still hoping to get Ben on the show as well, this third part of our series was with Nate, who also played in several other bands that you might know like Doomriders or Old Man Gloom. So, with Converge’s bass monster we talked about the notion of ethics and morals in hardcore and how those things have changed for him over the decades. A really interesting talk, enjoy!

There has hardly been any act within the realm of Drone, Doom and Black Metal in the last ten years or so who has been constantly as much as ALN and his Mizmor-project. The guy is able to give us all lots of food for thought and at the same time create soundscapes that are never stagnant in their successes but seemingly always pushing for new dimensions of depth and meaning. Whenever one listens to his record and goes about his lyrics there will be lots of ideas and questions left open. In order to close some of these we sat down with ALN and sought for some answers. 

Wit's End, Mizmor's latest EP (released in mid-January via Gilead) proved that once again, this time not just lyrically but also musically. You can read up on Thorsten review of the record here and then dive deep into the interview. We tried to find out if Thorsten's idea of a tendency towards Radiohead and Sigur Ros was just a stupid idea and when was the last time, that ALN was at his wit's end. Or how we as individuals and as mankind could cope with losing our ability to find a solution, when we are all collectively at our wit's end.

<b>Those of you who follow Veil of Sound closely, very closely might have stumbled across this sentence a few weeks ago: <i>”Maybe this interview will be the start for another series of interviews, who knows?”</i> was the end of our article accompanying our interview with Jacob Bannon. That was part of our series to close out 2021 and here we go: we have yet another interview with a Converge member not talking about the band itself too much. This time it’s Kurt Ballou and our topic is “producing”!</b>

When people talk about music they often talk about the skills of a certain instrumentalist or vocalist. Sometimes, very seldom, people talk about the production of a record and then it is even more difficult to know what a producer does. Therefore we were very fortunate when Kurt Ballou agreed to do an interview with us and gave us the opportunity to learn how he became a producer, how he sees the role of producers (and himself as one of them) and how important the individual process is.

So, as usual, we do not want to keep you waiting for too long – enjoy our interview with Kurt Ballou!

<b>Because I am a huge fan of their newest work, I wanted to interview Shoreline and fortunately Hansol was kind enough to sit down and have a talk with me.</b>

Because their album has so many different topics in the songs, we had plenty to talk about, but we didn't only talk about their music, but also the band itself and the ideas behind it.

It was a real chill conversation, that could've gone on for much longer, just because Hansol is such a smart and nice guy to talk to.

Today we are giving you the last video of our early Consouling Sounds-series (don't worry - season 2 is soon to start) by presenting the amazing Dana Schechter! We have already featured an interview with Dana a few months ago, but don't think that we are giving you the same thing twice, because we are not. This interview was done for Consouling Sounds' 24 Hours of Deep Listening event and it was based on a different set of question. As we always hold Dana in very, very high regard because of her awesome musicianship, we figured this would be an awesome way to end our first series of Consouling-related interviews (if you try to find the fifth and last installment of this series of video-interviews you should check back with consouling.veilofsound.com - maybe you can find it there ;-) This time we focused very much on her one-woman-project Insect Ark and how it developed and changed over the years, how she got into playing this kind of music and why reforming as a solo project also gave her a lot of freedom for playing shows alone and without being dependent on other people. A now without much further ado, enjoy the chat with the wonderful Dana Schechter!

Usually we do not go back-to-back with video-interviews but we wanted to once more show our love for a young French Post-Rock band from Lyon, whom we already featured on our special for the wonderful Post.Lyon Festival at the end of May: Quintessence! Thorsten had a cool chat with the guys and found out a lot about them and their music. And we are also happy that one of our questions did not end in a split of the young hopefuls ;-)

Formed in Lyon in 2018, Quintessence hit the ground running, releasing their debut EP, Demain, après la Lune in September of the same year. Their structured, methodical approach to song writing is immediately obvious, from the opening track, “Demain” on their debut to the “M87” demo song released in 2019, they weave patterns and tones into a series of dynamic musical passages that take you from the intricate to the raucous.

The duo demonstrate influences beyond post-music, with riffs and tones so clearly rooted in metal that they might as well wear a greasy denim jacket with “Anthrax” scrawled on the back. But this doesn’t define them. Those riffs work themselves around the melodies and bring grit to the gravy – a little bite to the apple. When the music falls away 2/3 of the way through “Libération”, it’s a metal-inspired tone that introduces the next passage, laying foundations for the tremolo-picked high notes to soar and wheel far above.

Listen to these two guys from central France and be one of those who can tell your friends in a year or two “I told you about those guys already a long time ago!”

We are closing in on the release of the last video we did for Consouling Sounds’ live event, but before we present you with the last one in a few weeks, we have another smasher for you. OVTRENOIR!

OVTRENOIR is the brainchild of William Lacalmontie and involves some other people from the circles surrounding Throane in Paris which again is in some way affiliated with the Church of Ra revolving around Amenra. The quartet has released a very special Consouling Sounds-release: SOUL0150, the 150th number in Consouling Sounds SOUL-series, was their full-length debut Fields Of Fire and it surely says a lot if one’s record is the anniversary release for such an established label.

Therefore it was an honor for us to get a chance to talk to Dehn and Angeline about the band, their sound, their roots and much more. And we are very glad we can share all of that with you.

Day 9 - final day and what do you do for a grand finale? You go out big! And that’s what we do! Ending this marathon that started with Motorpsycho and had some of our favorite artists - there cannot be anybody but the one and only Jacob Bannon! However, we will not be talking about Converge or Wear Your Wounds too much, but rather about his art for he is one amazing artist; everyone who has looked at the Converge-record covers will know what I am talking about.

Jacob’s art is not only visible in the Converge releases but also on a lot of the early Hydra Head 7”s like Corrin, on records by Cave In, Knut or hardcore classics like American Nightmare’s self-titled record or Every Time I Die’s Hot Damn!! However to him artwork is much more than just the single visual created for it.

We always try to give you something different here on the VoS, so we are very happy to have this interview with Thomas Alkärr for you. Thomas who? Thomas is a scholar who has curated a very important exhibition in Oslo called “Bad Vibes” which focused on the Norwegian Black Metal scene of the early 90s and how it affected Norwegian society and how it was affected by it vice versa. In this interview we talk about the exhibition, the surprises Thomas encountered and also how the exhibition was laid out. Of course we also talk about the music, its sources, influences but also the effects it had on the global (Black Metal) scene. To make it clear, we also talk about the artist formerly known as Kristian and the crimes connected to the scene back at the beginning of the 90s, so if you do not want to listen us talk about those topics, you might want to skip this interview and enjoy one of our many other ones. At the end Thomas also has to through our infamous quickfire round which is centered around Norway and its bands, projects etc.

Today is our first video and audio interview in this already huge special. We take a little pride in covering a wide range of musical genres and today we have another hardcore legend. Nathan Gray is mostly known for his work in boysetsfire, but since a few years he releases solo albums. With Rebel Songs he has now released his third album and the first one under the monicer of Nathan Gray & The Iron Roses. 

You can probably tell that I am admiring Nathan and his work a lot and it was a huge dream come true talking to him for so long. We talked a lot about his new album, the ideas behind it and some very funny background stories. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I enjoyed doing it.

By now everyone should know about our year-long collaboration with Belgium quality-label Consouling Sounds. In preparation for their two-day festival at the beginning of October (aptly named 24Hours of Deep Listening) we conducted a series of video-interviews with several artists on their roster, which we will release bit by bit. Today we feature our interview post-blackgaze newcomers Mother, an upcoming big player from Ostend, if you ask us. .

Mother is a really remarkable band for they are playing the old “loud vs quiet”-game to perfection and yet never let go off their black-metal roots, especially not on their latest one-track-EP Interlude 1 which is one of the two interludes in their 5-part-story about the relationship between a mother and her child. And now - without any further ado, we give you: Mother!

For the 24 Hours of Deep Listening festival over at Consouling Sounds, Thorsten sat down with Barst and talked about the idea behind their latest creation.

Back in 2008, Mike Keirsblick and his friend Miguel started a label which should become one of the driving forces in alternative, experimental and avantgarde music - Consouling Sounds. With releases from such influential artists as Nadja or A Storm of Light/IIVII, thisquietarmy or Alkerdeel the label has developed a very open approach to music and an even wider idea of which music they want to do next. Oh, by the way - yeah, for more than ten years now they have also been working closely with a little band originally from Kortijk you might have heard of - anyone familiar with Amenra?! 

Most of you will already have heard about the love-relationship between Veil of Sound and Consouling Sounds, Belgium's finest label in everything between Ambient and Black Metal. But have you already visited our special page devoted to Consouling Sounds? Consouling.veilofsound.com is a special page designed to promote the label, its philosophy and the people behind it as we think they are really special and everyone should know about it. On this page we will gather all our reviews and interviews with Consouling-artists and much more. Our web wizard Sebastian even built "a few timelines" which will enable you to get to know the label and its sublabels in a more detailed fashion. 

Of course one cannot start such a huge special without looking at the people who started it all and who have kept the flame burning for more than 13 years now. Therefore we will start this series of monthly interviews with none other than Nele and Mike for graciously gave us a lot of their time in order to create one of the longest VoS-interviews ever and showed why Consouling Sounds is also somehow Consouling Family - a family we are proud to be a part of!

There have been many musical highlights this year, varying from blistering mid-covid live shows to the superb post-covid album releases. The underground music scene has had to stay strong and battle through a tough eighteen months, that tested both the creative abilities of the bands as well as the financial viability of it all. Thankfully most have ploughed through these hard times, and we are now reaping the rewards with some incredibly original and diverse albums releases. One such album is Shy, Low’s latest offering, Snake Behind The Sun which is due for release on 08-10-2021 through the mighty Pelagic Records. I’m not going to go all “review” on it here as the album write up is already available on our website if you wanna sample the fruits of their labour. And let me add, no fruit was spared in the making of this colossal release.

For the Post.Lyon festival a few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to chat with Erik and Eric from Lòdz.

We interviewed several bands for our collaboration with the masterminds behind Post.Lyon Online Festival which took place last May, one of them was Lòdz. In case you missed the awesome livestream, you now have the chance to rewatch our interview. We talked about how they rehearsed with their new drummer, how the pandemic has affected them and much more.

Curbeaters. Hellström. Planks. Ultha. Four bands who share one member: Ralph Schmidt, one of these walking encyclopedias of underground music. And now there is a fifth band that one must reckon with: Ropes of Night, Ralph's latest project.

No matter which side of the Atlantic Ocean one is talking about, Ralph will know it. Doing an interview with him is easy, because he knows what he is talking about and always has great bands to talk about. For this interview we concentrated on his band Ropes of Night, that just released the Post-Punk record of the year!

When I first got talking with Ralph some time ago I had the impression of a person who is very clear in his ways, aesthetics, politics and ethics. One of his main points is that no person is apolitical, no matter how hard one can claim to be. His bands and their output are usually as clearcut and as clearly divided as his personal morals and beliefs are. Upon hearing that he wanted to do a Post-Punk record, my initial thought was that this way a deviation from his usual path. But the first few beats and parts of Impossible Space wiped those thoughts away with a powerful bodyslam. And it also becomes clear that this is another stone in the mosaic of Ralph's puzzle of dark music, when watching the highly entertaining Video-Interview with him here or when listening to the audio-version of it on Spotify.

This week we will, once again, do something different and offer you a video-interview instead of the regular written one - and who better for such a “premiere” here on VoS than French post-innovators Where Mermaids Drown?!

We interviewed several bands for our collaboration with the masterminds behind Post.Lyon Online Festival which took place last weekend, one of them was Where Mermaids Drown. And in order to present you something fresh and new every once in a while we took the liberty and show those of you who didn’t watch the live-stream this video.

Be sure to check out our review of their recent debut EP.

We had the pleasure to do an interview with one of those bands that are the most difficult to categorize - Årabrot! To nobody’s surprise, it was such an easy and fun interview, one of the nicest ones we have done so far, enjoy!

Sometimes it is just so much fun to interview bands that time flies and then you notice that it’s already an hour! That maybe a bit too long for a video with nothing but dialogue - in the case of Norwegian rockers Årabrot there are just so many things that we had to talk about: their life as a couple, past and future collaborations, their love for literature, Steve Albini and even clipping.!

Well, well, well - didn’t we tell all you American Post-Rock aficionados to check back soon with us? Anyway, we are incredibly proud to have Shipwreck Karpathos here on the show for our first regular interview of the year. The guys have released a miraculous release called Being Human a few weeks ago through A Thousand Arms and dunk!records one couldn’t be happier about it. It is one of these records which provides a lot of things to talk about and talk we sure did.

The record is the second installment in a trilogy that started a few years back with Bring Down the Sky and which is now furthened with Scenes 8 to 14. The so-called “Pilot Trilogy” is of course one of the things we talked to with the handsome fellows, bandleader David and the latest bandmember Hank. We also talk recording specs, the influence of Emocore and Pop-Punk and also when you can hear only Jason Sissoyev from Coastlands on this record. We’re sure that you are going to like this interview and maybe give us a like here or on any of our other channels.

Well, haven’t we told you we wanted to start 2024 with a bang?! What could be a bigger bang than an interview with one of the reasons why all of this here started? A shared love for the music of Aaron Turner brought together some nerds a few years ago and this is like the core of VoS - so it was about time for this interview. However, we like to do things a little differently here and therefore we did not talk in too much detail about with musician Aaron Turner but much more with the (visual) artist Aaron Turner, whose work did not only grace many of the HydraHead releases but also many other artists’ records. His work is so influential, that by now you can find cover artworks that are clearly inspired by his work!Enjoy this interview and have a great 2024!

Yes, you are seeing correctly, Toby Driver! We go out of 2023 with a bang! Toby Driver is one of these few artists who can connect Black Metal fans, Jazzers, Avantgardists and people from various other far-apart genres because he has that understanding of music that reaches beyond genres, sounds and structures. Something that some people might call avantgarde in the sense of “letting the song dictate where it goes” but for Toby that is not what the term stands for. And therefore we focused on that notion, that term - “Avantgarde”. In what turned out to be a totally improvised interview we found out a lot about it, in my opinion. Check out this in-depth interview with Toby and remember - we go out with a bang, we go in with a bang, so be sure to check back tomorrow!

As we said before, we want to give you something special in this run of interviews and this interview with Steve von Till is really something special, because Steve sat down and thought for himself which ten records could define Neurot Recordings best for him. And he came up with a really mighty list: Great Falls, Deafkids, UFOMAMMUT, YOB, Amenra, Kowloon Walled City, Grails, Justin K. Broadrick’s FINAL, Vágtázó Halottkémek and Zeni Geva! What a list! We talked about these records and also used these as starting points to talk about other Neurot releases and artists! Enjoy this interview and make sure to come back tomorrow for another amazing interview!

There are people and bands that everybody within a certain scene knows. Everybody knows ISIS when it comes to Post-Metal, just like you know the Neurosis guys when you are into Dark Folk, as well as Toby Driver when you like Black Metal with an Avantgarde Twist. When you are into American Black Metal with a lot of history you will surely have come across the name Neill Jameson because he is one of these key figures of USBM as he is the mind behind Krieg, one of the seminal bands in the genre. Sometimes controversial but never delivering records of a bad quality and that is also true of Krieg’s latest record Ruiner, which came out a few months ago and which is a certain tabula rasa record. So, obviously we had a lot of reasons to sit down with Neill (and his cat) to talk about all these things and of course also Black Metal in general. Enjoy this one and make sure to check back tomorrow for another legend!

Talking to Einar Guðmundsson from Fortið is quite different from what one would expect when talking to a guy from the Big White North aka Iceland. Einar is surely not one of these quite Norsemen, who barely open their mouths. No he is quite open about many things, for example about the fact that Fortið’s latest record Narkissos is based in quarrels with one person he and his family encountered in the last few years. Or to what extent he is a political person and which side he would take. The epic nature of his songwriting and how the latter might change because of a band member taking one more responsibilities. We also spoke about soundtracking, what Einar would love to do at some point. That and much more can be found out, when listening to this interview! Enjoy this one and be sure to check out tomorrow for another Black Metal hero!

Brefj​æ​re by Spurv. A record like a mammoth-like mountainous superb soundscape. Most people who have listened to the record are gently overwhelmed by it because its sound is wonderfully melancholic and still sparkling like an icey diamond from beyond the Arctic circle hewn out of the mountains and then frozen in the waters surrounding Tromsø. Many people have placed this record on their lists for 2023 and well, righteously so: There is a lot of luminiscence in the tracks on the record and that surely has to do with the concept behind the record which is a communication between “participants” that usually cannot speak. We spoke with Gustav about the influence of the nature around him on the music, the concept behind the songs, the staging aspect of it all and much more. Enjoy the interview and do not forget to check out our first three interviews of this marathon and to check back tomorrow!

Black Metal from Quebec is a pretty relevant scene, if you ask us. There are many awesome bands from the only French-speaking region in Northern America such as Nordicwinter, Spectral Wound, Misere Luminis and many others, amongst them: Givre. Man what a band, maybe my favorite Canadian band at the moment. Nevertheless, one must admit, that we normally do not know that much about Quebec. We might know about Montreal as its biggest city, might know where it’s located and a few tidbits, but not too much. So we combined that lack of knowledge with an in-depth interview about Givre’s new record Le Cloitre, out on Friday via Eisenwald. There is so much to talk the record: The concept of talking about six famous women all connected to the Christian faith, the artwork, the roots of the lyrics but also the difference of their hometown Rouyn Noranda compared to Montreal, the importance of that village for their sound and the impact of the local scene there. As you can imagine, all of this made up for a pretty long interview with many topics to discuss and much knowledge to gather. Enjoy our 90 minutes with Givre!

You all know that we here at have a heart for more than one genre, so we have had Post-Metal and Drone Metal in this marathon and what else could be next than an interview with Hardcore-Metalcore workaholic Will Putney? The guy has been an awesome person to talk to as he was very open and had a lot to say about END, their new record The Sin of Human Frailty, (upcoming) tours, Better Lovers, the Tri-State-Area scene and much much more! Don’t be surprised if you come across a guy who’s well-versed in his music knowledge (across many genres) and who is also very clear about what he can do and what not. So enjoy the interview and make sure to check back tomorrow to find the next interview!

A band whose sound is undefinable, somewhere between Post-Punk, Blues, Drone and Ambient. A band which loves collaboration records, and has already released records together with A Storm of Light, Year of no Light or Fear Falls Burning. A band that lives for their songs and soundscapes - all of that is Nadja, the Berlin-based duo of Canadian expats Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff who release their music on a more-than-one-record-a-year basis and who recently released a new record in collaboration with Fawn Limbs (here is Martin’s review Martin’s review of Vestigial Spectra! Reasons enough for us to talk with Aidan - so enjoy our second interview in this year’s marathon!

Prolific and proficient! That’s surely something one can say about Robin Staps, his band The Ocean and his label Pelagic Records. We have not only reviewed a lot of records out via Pelagic Records (for example the latest releases by Saver, Arabrot, Mono, Jaye Jayle or JeGong), no Simon has also reviewed the last The Ocean record Holocene (you can check out his review here). But one thing that we must also know about Robin is that he is a man with a lot of interests and as it is always interesting to be interested we were really happy to interview him and kickstart our Xmas-to-New Year-interview marathon!

Yes, we are back with our annual interview marathon here on the VeilofSound - and of course you will get one interview over the next couple of days ending with a bang on January 1! But not only the end should be a bang but basically each and every interview and thus we are happy to give you this first interview with Robin from the Ocean who also runs Pelagic Records. Robin and us talked about ten records that shaped his musical taste and journey and he has come up with many interesting choices, some obvious, some surprising, but all making sense! Afterwards we talk a lot about the Ocean, the band’s development, the upcoming record (yes, UPCOMING) and the way that the band has also added to Robin travelling the world and much, much more. Enjoy the interview and make sure to check back daily to get the latest interview. But for now - we are happy to kickstart this year’s marathon with Robin Staps!

Over the last couple of years, we have witnessed many great new Doom bands. But rarely has one hit as hard as Belgian-based BRIQUEVILLE which has by now released several records through Pelagic Records. They might be the slowest, doomiest band on the roster, but they’re surely one of the most intriguing, densest and simultaneously most refined, most intricate bands in all of Europe. As we are always interested in presenting you something different and unique we are more than happy to give you a premiere - this is the first interview the band has ever done that’s not written! However, we of course kept the anonymity of the band member we spoke to. We touched on the new record, the development of their sound and who is under the hoods, there’s one answer that’ll surprise you, for sure! Enjoy!

A few weeks ago we had an interview with Billy Gould and in that one we mentioned this awesome band called Sleepbomb whose latest record is out via Billy’s Koolarrow Records in collaboration with our Belgian besties in Consouling Sounds. The record is really amazing and you should all listen to The Cabinet of Dr. Galigari and therefore we are really happy to have this interview with their bassist and synth player Tim who explained their approach to songwriting and their love for movies and much more!

One should not mistake the folks in Sleepbomb for artsy-fartsy movie geeks who dig only the French or Polish avantgarde or the Eastern European classics or the latest Korean cuts - they also love to do scores for pretty popular movies like Conan or for one of the most famous German movies of all times, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The latter is their last release and one must admit that they have a really great way of scoring a 100 years old movie but do not sound in any way old-fashioned or anything. Brilliant! Unforgettable! Splendid!

You can order your copy of the album from Koolarrow Records and from Consouling Sounds - but now let’s find out what Tim has to say!

When people from different, well-known bands form a new project, we often call them supergroups. Most of the time, these bands have only little to say, because it can be quite hard to arrive at similar ideas. With False Fed this is surely not a topic, because these four guys know what they are doing, how to do it and - most important - what they want to say. The Covid-born project consists of four people who, at least when we talked back in October, had never all been in the same room! Nevertheless, their debut record Let Them Eat Fake is biting and scratching and full of songs and stories very close to the band members’ hearts! Enjoy our interview with all of them and do not forget to check out their record at the bottom of this page!

Discharge. Amebix. Ministry. Soulfly. The list could be continued and we’d be not going but sliding down a rabbit-hole of unperceivable depths. If you wanna do that, you might consider taking a week of unpaid holidays. The band itself didn’t have to take a holiday to record their songs because it was conceived during the Pandemic, even though they never met in one room or recording studio - thanks to the interview for once because without it, this record would have been much more complicated to get done! We talked with the guys about what “urgency” might imply, very deeply about some of the songs, whether they want to take this record on the road and much more. Enjoy!

Sally Gates should not be a new name to all you VoS-ficionados, because we already spoke with her last year about the last album of her project Titan to Tachyons (we also reviewed Vonals). Sally moved to New York City a few years ago from her home New Zealand, and man, she has been a highly productive and respected part of the New York City Avantgarde scene working with many highly skilled well-regarded musicians around John Zorn and his Tzadik Records label. Now she’s releasing another record that might blow your mind alongside Trevor Dunn and Greg Foxx. So we had to sit down and talk with Sally again, and here you can enjoy our conversation!

When it comes to Free Jazz colliding and falling in love with heavy Rock sounds we quickly talk about Fusion, which is a label to make to make you shiver and quiver as (to me at least) it always implied a somewhat deranged and never-ending form of Grateful Dead-AOR-rock. But for several decades now, Fusion Rock is leaning more towards the harder side of things and shows a lot of crunch, heavy riffs and really intriguing rhythmic work. Sally Gates is one of the prime examples for that as she does not only know technique but also power and thus her “songs” are always mesmerizingly brewing both concoctions into one addictive poison! Her new collab record with Trevor and Greg shows that once more. We sat down with her to talk about Deliriant Modifier, its conception and birth, how she experiences life in the Big Apple and much, much more! Enjoy!

Scream is one of these iconic bands that we all heard about when we were young, apart from our walking encyclopedia Knut, who probably witnessed many of the DC Hardcore bands back in his 20s and 30s, but for the regular people among us the early DC years and the bands that came from that area and which were on Dischord or later on Jade Tree are legendary. Minor Threat, State of Alert, Scream - the latter even released the first full-length ever on Dischord. Now they’re back! With a new full-length! With collaborations galore and with great songs! And … with enough time on Pete Stahl’s hands to sit down and talk with us about many, many things! Enjoy another interview with a “living legend”!

The latter is a term that Pete doesn’t like and he explains why in this interview, but we also talk about the variability of songs, moods and genres on DC Special. He also explains why the record is neither only a reflection of our times nor only a trip down nostalgia lane. He explains his love for Dead Kennedys and even why he - a DC guy - now likes the Dodgers and which kind of music he likes to listen to when going on a hike. Enjoy these more than 50 minutes with a man who has played with the Sunn O))) guys, with most of the Desert Sessions folks and even with someone Pete more or less discovered, a guy called Dave Grohl - might have heard about him, guy might make it big one day.