Ever shrouded in mystery, ThisIsNotAScene had a surprisingly civilised chat with an elusive member of Dragged into Sunlight before their set at Damnation Festival; chatting about the creation of the aurally destroying album, the reasons for the secrecy and upsetting old women in America’s bible...

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US based extreme metal band Abigail Williams have always been something of an enigma to me. They have always had a wilfulness to them- right back to their original quasi-metalcore roots through to the black metal extemporizing that they have become most notable for. There...

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Despite having only released two albums, the history of The Rotted goes back to the late nineties. Originally one of the heavy-hitters of UK death metal under the guise of Gorerotted, The Rotted formed from the ashes of the fallen heroes in 2008 as a...

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As the shadows of evening drew over the bustle of Manchester city centre, ThisIsNotAScene ventured off the beaten track to Moho Live, the willing host of the Under the Sign of Hell tour, to seek out Sweden’s purveyors of aural violence –  Valkyrja.  Vocalist A...

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Amidst a sea of triangle sandwiches and pop bottles ThisIsNotAScene chatted with three enigmatic fifths of the Norwegian masters of Jazz-Extreme metal fusion Shining. Refreshed and wired after a body burstingly energetic performance and maybe a lot of fizzy drink; vocalist/guitarist/saxophonist Jørgen Munkeby, keyboardist Bernt...

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The outlook for the British extreme metal scene has rarely been better, with promoters and scenes cropping up all over the country. There are a lot more opportunities than in recent years and Evisorax one of the bands that are at the forefront of that...

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Sumerian mythology and the work of HP Lovecraft are heavily revered in the extreme metal section. From Metallica (okay, that’s not extreme metal, besides from being extremely boring metal) to Morbid Angel, pretty much every band has dabbled with the old tales in some way...

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Split EP’s and albums have been around for a while, helping bands share costs and get more exposure to new fans. Independent UK label Condate records hit upon the idea of getting together five of the country’s grimmest bands together for the excellently named “Split...

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They say that familiarity breeds contempt so, by all accounts, we should be sick to the back teeth of Arch Enemy. The fact that we aren’t and, in fact, have been relishing- at least round these parts- their latest release is in no small part...

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I’ve always been an avid fan of technical metal, especially when it’s done tastefully. Nowadays, there’s a greater appreciation of this kind of music as the rise in popularity of bands like Opeth, Between The Buried And Me, Mastodon and The Ocean will attest. German...

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Canadian extreme metal outfit, ION DISSONANCE return with their fourth studio album, “Cursed”, released through Basick Records. ION DISSONANCE were formed back in 2002 when 5 friends got a band together with the aim of creating extreme technical metal, which at the time was still...

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