Acracy (US) - Fuglymaniacs

#99
Washington state, U.S.
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Acracy
(U.S.)
Unmerciful (U.S.)
Grace Disgraced (Russia)
July 29, 2016 (no.5 in July)
Dracena (Sweden)
Oxygen Destroyer (Seattle, U.S.)
Lucid Nightmare (U.K.) (free album)
issues of this zine are avalable online at: www.fuglymaniacs.com
—
Metal Bulletin Zine
P.O. Box 1339
Lake Stevens WA 98258
Metal Bulletin Zine
#1-20:
#21-26: (2009-2010): Texas
Washington state
find out! The band’s guitarist Clint Davis
answered the questions.
USA
(2006-2009): Wisconsin
#27(2010)--now;
All album reviews, news, updates below are
by MMB, unless stated otherwise.
**
Acracy
Acracy, a progressive metal band from
Chicago, U.S., points out that the term
"acracy" means, “in political philosophy, the
negation of rule or government. A society with
the absence of coercion; one of voluntary
order.” In accordance with that principle,
they say that "This is the very idea behind the
recently formed metal band to hail from the
Chicagoland area: one that writes and
performs music without boundaries, without
the standard rules of order, and without the
impetus to follow the stylistic trends of popular
music."
The band is:
Juan Cardenas: drums/percussion
Isaac Traylor: bass
Albert Rybka: vocals
Clint Davis: guitar/backing vocals
They are currently working on their debut
album, so this is a new band, but these are
experienced musicians who have in their
résumés prog and heavy/power metal bands
like Abolisher, Bavmorda and Katagory V,
amongst other groups. This publication will be
covering more on this band in the future, but
in the meantime let's begin with this
introductory interview. In addition, at the end
of the interview you will find the link to the
teaser video that they have published. This is
all that there is for now, but there will be more
in the coming months. Actually, they have
some exciting shows coming up. Read on and
Greetings! How is the metal life in Chicago for
Acracy? You all live in Chicago, correct?
Greetings to you, too! The metal life in our
area isn't too bad. I personally consider
ourselves lucky be able to live and work as a
band in our particular area. One of the
advantages to being a performing artist in a
larger city with many surrounding suburbs is
that there are always plenty of different
venues to play shows at. In turn, there are
always opportunities to expose your music to
newer crowds that may have never of heard
of you before. It's also very nice to have so
many different metal bands come through
town on a regular basis. We were actually
fortunate enough to be able to open up for
Primal Fear for our very first show. So, yes, the
metal life here is pretty good for bands and
fans alike. To answer your second question,
the members of Acracy all live within the
Chicagoland area, but not in the actual city
of Chicago. However in the past we have all
lived in Chicago, with the exception of our
bassist Isaac who is an Ohio native. We all still
have family in the city so we'll always consider
Chicago our home.
What is the history of your band?
Back in mid 2013 Juan, Albert and I decided
to come together and form a new band. At
the time I was already working with each of
them separately in different projects. Both of
which were lacking band members. We all
loved what each other was doing as stand
alone musicians and the work we each did in
our previous bands so it made sense for us to
unite as one group. We used the bits and
pieces of material that was being created in
both projects and got to work on writing a few
tunes.
Throughout the remainder of 2013 and early
2014 we put a lot of effort into tightening up
our sound and searching for members to
complete our lineup. In May of 2014 we made
our live debut as one of the opening support
acts for Primal Fear for their Chicago stop of
that tour. The show went over very well and it
seemed that we were on solid ground.
Unfortunately, despite our efforts to keep
things stable we went through a couple of
lineup changes over the following months.
We'd made plans to start writing new music
for an album right after a show we'd booked
in January of 2015. Little did we know that
there was another pitfall ahead. Soon after
we started rehearsals for that show we found
out that we would be losing our bassist that
we had at the time.
As luck would have it, we were fortunate
enough to have our good friend Patrick
Gloeckle (drummer of Moros Nyx) refer us to a
bass player that he knew by the name of
Isaac Traylor. We invited Isaac out to the final
show we played with our old bassist and
spoke with him afterwards. A week later he
was auditioning for Acracy. He's an amazing
player and picked up on our material very
quickly in addition to adding his own unique
style which gave the tunes new life. He made
a great impression on us all and we recruited
him into the band a few weeks later. A month
or so after that we began writing music for our
upcoming debut album Doorways to Destiny
which we're currently in the process of
recording.
How do you see the music of Acracy?
Acracy at its heart is a progressive metal band
and we try our very best to keep things as
versatile and interesting to our listeners as we
possibly can. There is always an element of
power and force to our songs. Even during
some of the softer moments in our music a
presence of metal can be heard beneath it
all and I think that our listeners are able to
sense that.
3
What can the listener can expect from
Acracy?
Our music will most likely capture the attention
of fans of progressive, thrash, power and
traditional heavy metal and maybe even
some fans of classic prog rock, too. I'd like to
think that we may even be able to reach
other listeners beyond those genres. When
we started this band we agreed that we'd
always approach the creative side of our
music with one rule in mind: We have no rules,
no restrictions. At the risk of sounding clichéd,
I'd say that listeners should expect the
unexpected. We draw our inspiration from
many different genres of metal, rock and
beyond so we're hopeful there will always be
some sort of surprise in each of our songs that
will catch our listeners a little off guard, in a
positive way that is! (laughs)
What events drove you down the path of
being a musician? How were the early days of
forming bands?
My main influence has and always will be Led
Zeppelin.
Watching Jimmy Page in the
concert film The Song Remains The Same is
what did it for me. Oh, there was also this one
episode of the 90's American tv show called
The Wonder Years that played a small role,
but that's another story for another day.
(laughs) I also grew up in a house where my
mother listened to a lot of old rock & roll from
the 50's and 60's, my father listened to a lot of
old blues and I had three older brothers who
all listened to different eras of rock and metal,
so I there was a ton of musical influence in my
soul by the time I picked up the guitar.
It was definitely a challenge when I first began
learning guitar to find others who not only
played instruments but also liked and listened
to heavy metal. It was extremely rare to meet
other metal heads in my neighborhood. The
big game changer was when I started going
to high school. There I met my fair share of
fellow metal musicians that played a major
role in how I developed as a guitarist. One of
those people I am still making music with till
this very day which is our drummer Juan.
What can metal people do to support your
music? What support do you like to see?
Keep your eyes peeled for the release of our
upcoming album Doorways to Destiny.
Check out our Facebook page and follow us
for the latest updates. Come out to our
shows. Let's us know what you think. If you'd
like us to play a show in your neck of the
woods then please contact us.
Most
importantly, support the metal community!
4
Without you there is no scene.
Do you plan to tour?
We definitely plan on going out and
supporting our album when it's released.
We've played a couple of dates in Chicago
this year and we're currently scheduled to
play two more hometown gigs that we're
pretty excited about. The first one being
August 20th. We'll be performing on the
second day of the 2016 Midwest Metal
Anthem festival with a bunch of other
awesome bands. Then, on September 2nd
we will have the pleasure of opening for the
Norwegian progressive metal greats Circus
Maximus which will be an amazing
experience that I'm really looking forward to.
Can you explain the reasons why you devote
yourself to making music? Can new metal
bands make money from their music? What is
success to you?
I think it is possible to make money by playing
metal music. It all depends on how hard a
band is willing to work to make it happen. It
takes a lot of investment of time and
dedication to make a living off of playing
music in any genre. But If you're passionate
about playing music, money isn't always at
the top of your list of priorities anyway. You
make what money you can and use it to
further finance your art. For me, I simply love
music. I love creating music and the whole
process of building songs, recording them and
performing them live. So for me there's no
other option. I couldn't pull myself away from
music even if I tried. It's what I do and it's who
I am. I couldn't really tell you if I think that we'll
make a lot money from music or not. What I
can tell you is that my bandmates and I will
do the very best that we can to create the
best music that we can and deliver it to the
masses. I think that staying dedicated to that
simple strategy will eventually produce its own
rewards, whatever they may be. And if we
can continue to do that effectively, I would
consider that to be a success for Acracy. That
is the sort of success that creates a solid
foundation that a band can continue to build
on over the years.
Does living in a big city like Chicago impact
your views on your lyrics? Chicago is in the
news all the time, sometimes for good
reasons, sometimes not.
Most of the lyrics in Acracy's music cover
topics that revolve around real life
experiences. Self discovery, betrayal, love,
sacrifice, death, and occasionally a bit of
fiction too. Both Al and I write lyrics in the
band and we have totally different writing
styles so it complements the variety of our
music.
the spirit of 80s extreme metal, and even
though they generally sound like earlier, 80s
black metal, their style nowadays would be
considered a bit less restricted, at the
intersection of death, thrash and black metal,
and occult heavy metal, it’s all in there, and
it’s futile to pin it down to a strict subgenre
sound. Perhaps this is why the band says that
they are “pure metal,” in recognition of the
heritage. Anyway, it’s better if you listen for
yourself and come in traction with it yourself.
Below is some official information about the
band.
What other Acracy news do you have?
Please stay tuned for the release of our
upcoming album Doorways to Destiny which
will be available very soon. If you go to our
Facebook page you'll be able check out a
teaser video that has a couple of audio
samples from the album. You can also find
the video on YouTube by searching for
"Acracy: DTD Teaser Video". We're looking
forward to its release and can't wait to share it
with you all!
Acracy: DTD Teaser Video
https://youtu.be/ufo3OYg09NE
www.facebook.com/acracymusic/
THE END
**
Dracena
Dracena is an extreme metal band from
Sweden. They have quite a history and a
handful of recordings, the last of which was
released in 2014: Ravenous Bloodlust. Earlier
this year the band announced that they have
eight new songs ready to go, although more
information about when the recording takes
place is not available yet. The band rolls with
5
OFFICIAL:
Dracena
was
formed
in
Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1994 by MiA,
according to The Encyclopedia of Swedish
Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, volume II,
Sweden’s heaviest all-girl band.
In April of 1997 the first demo was recorded
and released as a limited edition of 100
copies on cassette with 3 own tracks and a
cover of Venom’s In league with Satan. In
1998 drummer Karin left the band and MiA
(guitar/vocals), Emma (guitar) and Åsa (bass)
continued on and entered Andy La Rocque’s
studio Los Angered Recordings to record the
second demo in April of 1999 with the help of
session
drummer
Terror
(Necrocurse,
Runemagick, Deathwitch, Swordmaster and
Sacramentum). Entitled Demonic Women and
released as a 3-track CDr and later also from
Bloodstone Entertainement (SWE) as a limited
edition 2-track 7” red vinyl.
In late 2000 Mojjo (Engel, Runemagick,
Deathwitch, Lord Belial) joined Dracena to
handle the drums and in September of 2001
the third demo was recorded in Terrordome,
released as a CDr with 3 tracks and entitled
Labyrinth of Darkness. In late 2002 the band
members decided to go separate ways and
Dracena was left with MiA as the only active
member.
The debut full-length album was recorded in
2004 using Hellbound Studios/Brutaliator
Studios. Infernal Damnation, containing 8
tracks, was independently released as a CD in
2006-06-06. A cover of W.A.S.P’s Animal (****
like a Beast) was also recorded during this
session for the W.A.S.P tribute album to be
released by Codiac Records (DEN) in May of
2006, Rock Shock Hellions – A tribute to
W.A.S.P.
2013 the new mini-CD Ravenous Bloodlust was
recorded during the summer in Andy La
Rocque’s Sonic Train Studios. This 4-track miniCD will also be released independently. After
the recording of Ravenous Bloodlust Dracena
has a complete line up for live shows and the
upcoming full-length album which is planned
to be recorded in summer 2014.
2013 Line up:
MiA - vocals and guitars
Piet the J. - guitars
K. - bass
F. - drums
6
discography:
Ravenous Bloodlust 2014
Infernal Damnation 2006
Labyrinth of Darkness (2001)
Demonic Women (1999)
Demo ´97 (1997)
www.facebook.com/Dracena.SE/
www.dracena.se
**
Unmerciful (U.S.)
All over the world there are bands seeking to
play the fastest music possible and there is no
shortage of entities jumping into the
worldwide competition to see who will survive.
Many bands are forgotten. This technical
brutal death metal from Topeka, Kansas, U.S.
was probably in some people’s minds all
finished and long gone. The previous album
Unmercifully Beaten is from 2006, but they
have returned with recorded output to show
their wares to the hungry masses yearning to
travel the soundwaves of inhumanly frenzied
music. The new album is called Ravenous
Impulse and is devoted exclusively to the art
of making music that takes it to the end of the
line. What is there beyond Unmerciful?
Nobody knows because human beings so far
have not been able to play much faster than
this style. The band features current and
former members of the big dog of Topeka,
Kansas technical brutality: Origin.
This publication has recently reported about
Unmerciful’s return to action, but now you
don’t have to read about it, listen to the
complete recording with your own ears. Just
understand that you have to be mentally
ready for this. You either keep up or the warp
speed will leave you behind lost in space.
OFFICIAL: UNMERCIFUL - which unites the
extreme metal ingenuity of bassist Jeremy
Turner (ex-Origin), guitarists Justin Payne and
Clint Appelhanz (ex-Origin), drummer John
Lonstreth (Dim Mak, Origin, ex-Gorguts etc.),
and vocalist Kris Bolton (D.F.W.B.) - unleashes
the sonic brutality of their Ravenous Impulse
full-length via Unique Leader Records.
Captured at Appelhanz's own Waveworks
Studio with drums recorded at Chapman
Studios (Origin, Tech N9NE) with longtime
producer and friend, Robert Rebeck,
Ravenous Impulse raises the proverbial bar of
inexorable, unsparing, belligerent, and plainly
vicious death metal.
Founded in 2001, UNMERCIFUL released its
debut, Unmercifully Beaten, in 2006. With
intensive tour runs from 2006 through 2009 with
the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus,
Necrophagist, Decrepit Birth, Cryptopsy, and
more, the band went through various
personnel changes before deciding to
disband in 2009. What started out as just a
reunion show in 2012, quickly returned the
band to working status. With consistent live
shows and numerous metal fest appearances,
the band released a self-titled demo in 2014
as a first step in the process to completing its
first full-length release in nearly a decade.
After the abrupt departure of drummer James
7
King, John Longstreth was enlisted to record
drums for Ravenous Impulse.
www.uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/a
lbum/ravenous-impulse
www.facebook.com/Unmerciful347016405378181/
**
Oxygen Destroyer (Seattle)
It seems like Oxygen Destroyer is making the
rounds in the Seattle region. Their name has
been showing up in several places and in the
process
people
are
becoming
more
acquainted with the sound of raw brutal
thrash. They have two demos that are
free/name-your-price. Apparently, they have
an unhealthy obsession with Godzilla, which is
normal because I have heard that you, too,
are devoted to Godzilla glorification. In
addition to playing vicious and ugly black
thrashing music, they are very fluent in English
and they have the qualifications to show it.
For instance, one of their songs is called
“Subsumed Within the Bowels of the Perennial
Monstrosity.” I had to whip out my dusty old
dictionary to figure what the title might
possibly mean. I’m pretty sure it means that
they do not like hipsters and in Seattle there
are lot of hipsters, a lot, so Oxygen Destroyer
has a big mission in life. Hey, guys, can I
please join your I-hate-hipsters club?! We can
express our hatred of hipsters together and
play a bunch of Nifelheim records. What do
you say?
www.oxygendestroyer1.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/Oxygen-Destroyer325474194296570
**
Grace Disgraced (Russia)
Grace Disgraced is old-school progressive
extreme metal, the type that focuses on
making songs that are a bit more memorable,
not just dizzying technical prowess. The music
still takes a few listens to absorb, but it’s a bit
ear friendly from the beginning on account of
the bits of melody to be found. The vocals
are growled all the way throughout, the guitar
tone is heavy, but clear and smooth, as is the
overall sound. The band’s latest recording is
called Lasting Afterdeaths (2016) and it’s
available in its entirety at the link below. Here
is some official information about the band.
OFFICIAL: The band was founded in 2004 in
Moscow by its permanent female vocalist
Polina “Grace Dis” Berezko. In 2005 Aleksandr
Klaptsov (guitar) joined the band – and now
he is the band’s main composer . The first gig
took place in famous R-club in May 2005.
Although the style couldn’t be identified as
death metal, the fiery mix of heavy, black and
thrash drew public attention and there
followed a set of gigs in Moscow, Tula,
Taganrog, Rostov-on-Don. Grace Disgraced
recorded their first demo “Natural Death” in
winter 2005-2006. Then some years of constant
line-up changes followed.
In 2009 the band was ready to record their EP
“Materialized Expectation” on NAVAHOHUT
8
studio. The EP was brought out on MOREHATE
Prod. within a 4-way split. In 2010 Yury
Korotovskikh (ex-“Rest in Pain”, “Fatal Band”,
“Drauggard”) joined the band as a bassplayer and Andrey Ischenko (ex-“Hieronymus
Bosch”,
ex-“Scrambled
Defuncts”,
ex“Mortem”) – as a drummer. These members
contributed to the recording of Grace
Disgraced first full-length album “Enthrallment
Traced”. The album was recorded, mixed and
mastered by Arkady Navaho in 2010 – 2011.
Meanwhile there were again some personnel
rearrangements which took place – Andrey
Andreev (ex-"Scream in Darkness", ex"Formalin") became GD’s bass-player instead
of Yury Korotovskikh. Andrey’s playing
perfectly fits in the musical concept of the
band. After the first album “Enthrallment
Traced” publication in 2012 the band went
touring in Ukraine with 2 Italian bands
“Homicide
Hagridden”
and
“Black
Propoganda”. It is worth saying that the debut
LP was warmly accepted in Europe, and a
great number of positive reviews from abroad
is a telling argument.
In the beginning of 2013 the Russian tour
followed, then a row of shows in Moscow and
other cities. At the same time the band
worked on their second LP, which was
recorded on NAVAHOHUT studio again.
Promo-track from this album “She Smells
Death” has become a real hit on “Russian
Death Metal” CD-compilation, and Grace
Disgraced played as a headliner at the
compilation’s presentation in Krasnodar in
January 2014. In March 2014 a new drummer
Vladimir Lyashkov (ex-“Beheaded Zombie”,
ex-“Nabaath”, “Decay of Reality”) joined the
band. The band’s second full-length album
“The Primal Cause: Womanumental” was
released in April 2015, followed by its
presentation in Moscow and a European tour.
The album was also released on Razed Soul
Prod. in the USA. The 2015 line-up is marked
with the returning of legendary Andrey
Ischenko and the fretless bass of Pavel Semin.
This year has been devoted to the work on
the
third
full-length
album
“Lasting
Afterdeaths”, which is already recorded and
will be released soon.
www.gracedisgraced.bandcamp.com/albu
m/lasting-afterdeaths
www.facebook.com/gracedisgraced/
www.twitter.com/gracebeneath
put effort into making a solid recording, one
of which they can be proud. It doesn't sound
like a garage demo or a rehearsal, either. It's
gratifying to hear a previously unheard band
and see how serious they are about their
craft. They don't have a record company to
back them up and this is their debut,
according to Metal Archives, but I'm glad that
they take themselves seriously. The world may
not know them yet, but if you give this
recording a listen, and if you like the idea of
modern thrash, this band should be a cool
surprise. Plus, the price is right! There you go,
you just ran out of reasons not to listen to the
album.
**
NEWS:
Lucid Nightmare (U.K.)
Lucid Nightmare
release date: March 17th, 2016
label: independent
This is a nine-track album that lasts a bit over
46 minutes. It's a free/name-your-price
recording. The band's music would probably
best be described as modern thrash with
black metal-influenced vocals. The band
(Northern Ireland) also utilizes some melodic
guitar solos to spice up the thick, rhythmic
riffing and drumming. The bass guitar is very
audible, as a result, the band comes across as
upfront, strong thrash. It doesn't take long to
figure out that they are serious and that they
9
OFFICIAL: Thrash, black and death metal
influenced riffery with a hard driving and
melodic undercurrent. Lucid Nightmare's self
titled and self produced full-length chronicles
their progression from carefully treading to
treading on everything. The band thrive on
the opportunity to play live and at present are
preparing to return to the stage with their new
drummer. This new chapter in the band's story
coincides with the completion of the self titled
and self produced full-length. The recording,
facilitated and engineered by the bands own
Brendan Finn chronicles Lucid Nightmare from
the beginning to how they stand today. The
nine tracks are reflective of the bands
progression and the members individual styles
can be heard breaking through any cracks in
the always there, all out metal assault.
Lucid Nightmare rose from the remains of now
long defunct County Armagh Metal Act
Soulstripper. Longstanding member Brendan
Finn led those last in the Soulstripper door, Paul
McConnell and Barry Smyth, in raiding the riff
banks and almost immediately working on
material for a new band. The three guitarists
brought their own riffs to the table and with
Brendan now taking care of the low end bass
duties, the bands signature style was quickly
established. Soulstripper's vocalist Moore
survived the fallout and rejoined the lads on
drums with the lineup being completed by
Darren Mallon, a harsh vocal and an old
friend. Thus commenced the band's life,
waxing and waning through the busy periods
and the lulls offered by a changeable music
scene. All the while continuing to expand their
set list and nesting deeper in their signature
sound.
Return visits in far ends of the country and
close relationships with friends and promoters
helped build confidence in delivering a live
show but still remaining relatively unknown
outside of these circles. Mainstays of the
Fermanagh
metal
scene
Henchman
promotions, Co.Armagh band Astralnaut,
Polish Metal promotions and Keady man
Gerry Martin Connolly being particularly
encouraging to the band. With progression
comes change and after jumping into the
recording process arrived a bumpy 'yay or
nay' period in 2015 after which drummer
Moore decided to 'up sticks' and left the
camp. The band were quickly connected
with a potential new recruit by a member of
local metal allies Waylander and have since
returned to practice and rehearsal for live
10
shows in 2016 with drummer Liam Murphy. This
new chapter in the band's story coincides with
the completion of the self titled and self
produced
full-length.
The
recording,
facilitated and engineered by the bands own
Brendan Finn chronicles Lucid Nightmare from
the beginning to how they stand today. The
nine tracks are reflective of the bands
progression and the members individual styles
can be heard breaking through any cracks in
the always there, all out metal assault.
www.lucidnightmare1.bandcamp.com/releas
es
www.facebook.com/lucidnightmareband
—
This zine is also available at:
www.issuu.com/metalbulletinzine