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Signing: The Wild Hunt proudly presents Ukrainian depressive black metal act Ezkaton

We now announce an upcoming release on the The Wild Hunt label by the amazing Ukrainian depressive black metal act Ezkaton. We are releasing it digitally and as digipack in February and we are now taking preorders. The vinyl version comes later this year due to queues at pressing plants. If you want to sign up for a copy of the vinyl, make sure to sign up for our newsletter below, or you can get in contact and we’ll hold a copy for you.

Ezkaton – To Those Who Fell cover art

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We had a chat with Roman, who is the songwriter and main person behind Ezkaton to talk about the band and the new album, “To Those Who Fell”…

Ezkaton is a depressive atmospheric black metal act hailing from Ukraine. Not to be confused with suicidal black, because my music is not about pitying yourself, but about compassion to the closest ones and for remembering those who are no longer with us. The project was born in western Ukraine in 2018, to create something personal, after writing the “My Nostalgia” album with Colotyphus.

It’s hard for me to describe the music with words, its idea and meaning. This must be listened to, because it’s like explaining a joke – if you have to explain it, it’s a bad joke. As for me – at the time of this interview I am 26 years old. The first recordings began in 2015 in the death metal project Rise of The Cadaver. I’m an observer of other people’s faith and I draw conclusions from that. I’m living with people, who basically live in hell, and I can’t help them. In fact, this is how the project was born, in which I describe my own experiences and emotions. This is Ezkaton.

It sounds like your lyrics are based on real events? Anything you would like to dive deeper into, regarding the topics/subjects?

Yes, some events are real, some only as a result of my imagination about the future of humanity, if humanity continues to follow this path. The main pillar of my music is the death of my brother in 2015 in the war with Russia. This event greatly affected me and my family. Also, this war took away many acquaintances and friends, not only from me, but also from thousands of other people. War is scary, especially if it is meaningless and serves only the interests of politicians. Also part of the lyrics about my personal experiences and emotions, which are difficult to explain to the listener, but everyone will be able to interpret them in their own way.

Thank you Roman, we are very happy to work with you and to help spreading your great music and your very personal message…

The Wild Hunt is a Swedish distro and label working mainly with black metal and doom metal. We are open for new signings so if you have a band or know someone who needs a label to work with, please get in contact.

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Faidra – immensely great Swedish atmospheric black metal

In april 2020, a new mysterious atmospheric black metal band from Sweden, namely Faidra, came to the light with the release of their debut album “Six Voices Inside”. The album has received praise and warm welcome within the scene, hence our curious excitement that lead to this interview with the anonymous person behind this one man act…

1. The background

Hello, please begin by telling us a about Faidra and your secret self.

Faidra is a Swedish Atmospheric Black Metal solo project that formed during late summer of 2019. Mostly just a project to entertain myself. There never were any intentions of letting anybody else listen to the music. After sending a rough mix of a couple of songs to friends for feedback and ideas, I later figured I would try to put a few songs on Spotify, since they really liked the result. An easy way to put stuff on Spotify is through a record label, so i sent some tracks to 3-4 labels and got interest from two of them, Northern Silence being one.

Sounds like a surprisingly low ambition approach, especially considering the end result. Is there anything more you can tell us about yourself? I guess you have a background in the music scene?

Yes, I have played in metal bands earlier, but these never really got anywhere. I actually had much more success playing folk music – I was in a band for ten years playing Irish/Celtic folk and we did that for a living for a couple of years…

Ok, cool. So, what first got you into this genre, and what motivates and inspires you to create the music you do?

Depending on what you mean there are a couple of things. Just listening to the genre and appreciating it, I have done for years. I occasionally listened to a few black metal bands during the 90’s but around the 2000’s Cradle of Filth released an album called “Midian” which still remains a favourite of mine. No matter what one might think of Cradle of Filth, i know they are pariah, but they really are unmatched when it comes to their lyrical abilities. Their early work at least, is largely pretty good and that album led me to dive deeper into the atmospheric part of the genre. Eventually this would lead me to another favourite band of mine, though not atmospheric, namely Marduk. So i guess ”Midian” is pretty much responsible for getting me to explore extreme music much more than i had done earlier.

What got me into the genre in regards to writing i guess i got inspiration from several other acts. Mgla, Burzum and Drudkh to name a few. But mainly i listened a lot to an album called ”Forest Sky” by Hermóðr and that album got me the idea and the inspiration to try to record my own black metal.

2. The present

You mention some excellent sources of inspiration there, what do you think about black metal anno 2020 – anything worth praising?

I tend to listen to the old and ”regular” stuff, but also other genres a lot. As for newer acts i have to mention Batushka (the real one) and Mgla for doing something very good and interesting. Also, Curse Upon A Prayer’s latest release is something i enjoy.

Some solid 2020 highlights there, although the last band Curse Upon A Prayer is something I need to listen in to…

Your debut album, “Six Voices Inside”, is really getting status in the underground I believe. Please tell us about it.

The album was not intended at all as stated earlier. The idea was to just make a few tracks to entertain myself. I was mostly doing folk music and Northern/Viking tunes with lots of ambience and atmosphere at the time. I figured i would see how a distorted guitar would sound in the midst of horns, bones, lyres and ancient string instruments. It sounded really good. With some inspiration from Hermodr’s Forest Sky album in the back of my mind, this turned into dropping the viking-stuff and going for atmospheric black metal instead.

Alright, so how has the reception for the album been so far?

The reception has been amazing. I am not aware of any negative reviews what so ever, and i have recieved nothing but praise from fans and the sales have impressed my label too.

3. The future

I perfectly understand, so what will be next for you, any new material being written?

I’m recording ideas mostly, that hopefully will turn into songs later on. Once I have a couple of riffs and ideas, putting it together usually goes pretty fast. The plan is to get enough material for the second album as well as a couple of songs to release online only as i did with ”Ixion”.

Interesting, can we assume there is a good chance for a new Faidra release during 2021?

I really hope so, it all depends on how much free time i’ll have to work on it. I have a full time job and recently got an addition to the family aswell. So free time is pretty rare nowadays.

Sounds great, both with family life and new material. Thanks a lot for the interview, good luck with the new material and future endeavours… /J.

4. Links

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Hellenic black metal legends Varathron return with a brilliant live album – “Glorification under The Latin Moon”

“Glorification under The Latin Moon” was recorded in its entirety on August 4th, 2019 in São Paulo (Brazil) during the final show of Varathron‘s 30 Years Of Darkness Tour, the historic setlist boasts some of the bands finest compositions, from 1988 and beyond, most notably including the entirety of classic “His Majesty At The Swamp” from 1993, to most recent songs, taken from the acclaimed “Patriarchs Of Evil” album, which made it to an awful lot of year-end lists in 2018. We took the opportunity to catch up with Hellenic black metal legend Varathron‘s vocalist Stefan Necroabyssious…

Hello Stefan, please tell us about your new great live album “Glorification under The Latin Moon”.

Thank you for your great support to my band. Our first official live album and the whole situation is amazing. That album was recorded in Sao Paulo of Brazil, my second homeland as I said there, because we received so much love, passion and respect for our band. The sound was very good and the passion of the crowd awesome. We played the entire “His Majesty at the Swamp” album and some new tracks. Infernal night – I’ll never forget it!

Sounds amazing! It is great with represses and the live album! We’re wondering, is there possibly some new material round the corner?

Yes, we’re working on new material now! The new album will follow the path of “Patriarchs of Evil”, but even more abysmal and evil. I think it will be very good stuff!

Any other news about Varathron?

I hope the best for the near future and our musical community, and that we can start playing live shows and spread the words of evil… Soon I wish!

/Stefan Necroabyssious

We’re certainly looking forward to the follow-up to the successful “Patriarchs of Evil”. Meanwhile, we will enjoy “Glorification under The Latin Moon” – please check out the legendary “Son of The Moon” below.

Tracklist

A1Cultum Deus Aeternum (Ιntro)
A2Ouroboros Dweller
A3Cassiopeia’s Ode
A4Tenebrous
B1Saturnian Sect
B2His Majesty At The Swamp
B3Son Of The Moon
B4Unholy Funeral
C1Nightly Kingdoms
C2Lustful Father
C3Flowers Of My Youth
C4The River Of My Souls
D1The Tressrising Of Nyarlathotep
D2Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire
D3Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Outro)