Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Full Length Review: Atmahatya "Andhaar Er Doshti Boschhor" (Independent) by Corban Skipwith

Band: Atmahatya
Location: Kolkata
Country: India
Genre: Death metal
Format: Digital
Label: Independent
Release date: June 26, 2022
First things first, you know when something is a mouthful to type and say that it’s going to be something memorable! For context I did try search up in an English to Indonesian translator what they album title means but to no luck, so sorry band!
Anyway, what we have here are nine fantastic tracks over some brutally insane production and instrumentation that utilizes some very cool and unique parts and ideas that I haven’t really seen done in quite a while.
Before I go on, as far as the sound goes I get a strong classic ‘Death Metal’ light ‘Grindcore’ vibe with the vocal performances and these two tend to go hand in hand with the individual tracks switching between either of the two depending on what the band is trying to emphasize more (the vocals or the instrumentation).
But to the point I was trying to highlight before, what I find grand about this record is their use of slow breakdown stops and pauses, I’m probably butchering what I’m trying to say but if you listen to some of the songs there will be parts where they come to an almost complete stop in this very breakdown style that you would hear in genres like ‘Nu Metal’ or ‘DeathCore’ but done in a clever, calculated way instead of just adding it for the Fuck of it or for a cheap ‘pop’ in the song.
Look, this was a different project for sure but one that will stick in my mind for days to come! Definitely check it out! Corban Skipwith

Lineup:
Debasish Pradhan: Vocals
Ronny Sinha: Guitars
Aditya Biswas: Bass
Abir Chatterjee: Drums

Track list:
1. Andhaar Er Doshti Bochhor
2. Elegy Of An Atheist
3. Death Dealers
4. 1971
5. Genocidal Syndrome In Me
6. 1947: Ek Shorojontro (feat. Bodhisattwa Ghosh)
7. Norok
8. Mritoder Ondhokup
9. Last Hours Of Khudiram

Monday, June 27, 2022

Interview with author Kuteesa Frank (third interview) by Dave Wolff

Interview with author Kuteesa Frank (third interview) by Dave Wolff

As I’ve interviewed you for Asphyxium twice before, you’ve always been hard at work on one writing project or another. Can you talk about some of your current writing projects?
Thanks for this opportunity, Dave Wolff. The last time we talked I was in my second year of study at Makerere University in Uganda. I had just completed writing book three of “The Ascendants” mini-series “The Ascendants Awakening”. While pursuing my degree in industrial and fine art, I associated, mingled and made friends with students offering a graphic design course unit and an illustration course unit. Those were very talented artists who sparked my interest in turning the story into a graphic novel.
Good enough, most of the students in my years knew about my writing. At least 80% of my classmates knew the title and about 50% had read a chapter or more. Most of them applauded my creativity/skill despite my weak English grammar. It’s during my third/final year that I made my plan known to several of my colleagues in the illustration and graphics design classes. They bought my idea because they already knew much of the story.
I had two illustration artists and two graphics designers, plus two creative writers. I expected this team to grow with time, which is the case currently. As you already know, “The Ascendants Awakening” was an expansive African fantasy story rich with tangles and twists through diverse cultures and several character plots.
The team loved the story but we couldn’t work with so many characters in one go! Suggestions were made that we handle the character development while focusing on inspiring children from six to twenty-three years. However, we could not character develop from the third book of the mini-series. We had to handle a major character from the very first book of the mini-series (“The Ascendants; Legends of Tsote”). This story I have only written using a pen on approximately 200 pages but never got to type and upload for public readings and reviews.
I was up for a challenge! Nevertheless, I knew my Ascendants’ world, its characters and plots were on the tips of my fingers. And with Tsote being the major character in the first book (a grown-up middle aged African warrior and legend), I knew where exactly to begin! And just like you stated, I have always worked hard on one writing project or another. I was able to write a back story about this legend’s childhood times, early-age experiences that natured and shaped him into an African legend and undisputed warrior.
No longer than a month later (after my graduation in 2020), Covid-19 penetrated our country. The country was put under lockdown for close to two years. These were very unfortunate times for everyone, but they provided me with ample time to write a short story about Tsote. As the lockdown stretched from months to a year, the short story transformed into a novella. I had to find a means of giving it an end and a title, “Mystery of the Olko Beads”.
I had hardly written the last of the thirty-eight chapters, and I saw this as perfect time to write a fiction and futuristic novel about the future possibility of the East African Union amidst the growing power and influence of a 35-year-old (dictatorial) government in Uganda. I named the story “Wheel of the People”. This story is set fifteen years ahead of the present. It’s an intelligent thriller, a fast paced and action-packed African based story. It reflects the power of love and family amidst the challenges of the unification of the seven East African countries. The events, characters and places are barely a mirror of reality.
I had hardly typed the story halfway to its end, when the lockdown was lifted. I had to present my team with “Mystery of the Olko Beads” which they’d followed chapter by chapter on Wattpad (a popular and free online readers/publishing site where I always published my stories). What I can say is, every one of them loved the story. However, to secure our partnership, my characters and the stories, we needed to sign an MOU to register our team as an art and entertainment company which we called Atro Universe Ltd. (Atro is a Portuguese word for Black) After this we began the story.

How well has “The Ascendants Awakening” sold since we last discussed it? Has it been made available on any new platforms recently?
I have sold around 68 books to my friends and the local readership in Uganda and had several online eBook reads, most of which have remained free ever since. Unfortunately, I have not added any new platforms because I have been buried in writing. However, I believe the book’s sales will grow by 60% after the release of the very first issue of the novel in a comic book version. All we need are the funds. We are doing our best to work with the best of our young and most creative local illustration artists to reach and attract readers of all colors and ages.

How has the Covid pandemic affected your society over the past two years? How have your recent projects reflected its impact?
Covid-19 reached Uganda in 2020, approximately two to three months after my graduation. This was the time when everyone started running around like a headless chicken looking for a day salary job to accompany side hustles like art and creative writing.
Like my fellow graduates, I needed a day job in a country where close to 70% of the population were jobless and surviving on side hustles despite having gone through the University! It was during such a desperate job seeking period that Covid got to Uganda and the lockdown began! Employer companies and organizations, industries and community businesses were forced to shut down for nearly two years which was a massive blow to the general economy.
This meant I would never get a job for nearly two years of lockdown. I was left to side hustle which transactions and deliveries were tightly prohibited until five months to the end of the first phase of lockdown. I wasn’t the only one going through this hardship but the whole community I lived in.
Sometimes it got hard to write when there was close to no food in the house and most of my clients were short on income and couldn’t even send a half deposit on their art orders. Hence, I would sit with my complete art works until the end of the lockdown and only then would I get paid. The situation in every household grew tougher by the day. Nevertheless, I kept my mind on my work, creating so that I never lost an hour, hoping tomorrow things would change.
When the lockdown ended and all the businesses reopened, the first thing I did was register Atro Universe as a legally incorporated art and entertainment company so that I and my creator team could jointly fight and escape the negative effect of the pandemic on the art industries in Uganda.
We hoped through a legal company we could grow as an association of young creators starting within our communities, to devise new means to battle the challenges of the changes to our industry and the economy at large. We would instill hope through creative art and graphic storytelling. The youth needed to rise from the Covid-19 trauma with all they got left, talent and hope. We left the lockdown without no money but through art and storytelling we could possibly morally boost and inspire many youths to create.

During and after the pandemic, how much inspiration did Atro Universe have on other authors and artists in your local community?
Atro Universe hasn’t been very effective yet due to limited funds to run its projects. Nothing hardly happens without funds. Money attracts people. Money eases all things. Money saves time. Everyone dreams, but without money dreams crawl and sometimes fade due to the dreamers’ ignorance and impatience. I am patient and this is it has taken me to achieve a united association of young East African creators.
So, Atro Universe isn’t such a big art and entertainment company to compare with Black Sands Entertainment (our role models) but its ability to birth a very promising young creators association called Atroverse Creator’s Association means everything to me and my creator colleague.
Atroverse Creator’s Association started in 2020 after the registration of Atro Universe Ltd with approximately seven members. Over that period of time, the association has grown to a membership of twenty-five members. Ninety percent of the membership is made up of illustration artists, graphic designers, young creative writers, film makers, music producers, local artists, local film makers, local actors and actresses, to mention a few.
We at Atro Universe are barely halfway through with our first duo-production for “The Mystery of the Olko Beads” and “Wheel of the People” stories. Instead, we and the company have given close to 70% of all our attention to growing and strengthening the Association roots.
Our senior/much-older creators must have known and understood the power of oneness in this industry but I believe their level of ignorance, ego, pride, greed for wealth and popularity above other local creators killed all possible chances of learning, inspiring, promoting, growing and diversifying the local creator industry, its content and its upcoming junior creators.
For that case, I encourage all local young creators in Uganda and possibly the East African region as a whole to join us, to grow closer under this Atro umbrella so we can cherish, support and grow each other’s creations to the peak with all our best means. The association is our greatest chance and opportunity to curb our challenges and differences in this tightly competitive world.

Offer synopses of the characters and storyline you devised for “Mystery of the Olko Beads” and “Wheel of the People”. What aspects of African culture are represented?
Our first project comprises of two stories and production may run until 2025 or 2026 depending of our level of access necessary production resources we currently lack. “The Mystery of the Olko Beads” and “Wheel of the People” and are set in two different fictional worlds and times from the present.
“The Mystery of the Olko Beads” is basically a legendary, mythological and African fantasy-like story set about 1500 years back in a typically very imaginative African world bursting with diverse African culture, cultures and imaginary creatures, monsters, shape-shifting warrior, kingdoms and powerful sorcerers to recon with. Synopsis: One thousand years ago, the Yakunko clans came into the possession of a powerful rock known as the Inka Seed. This rock granted them an extraordinary gift known as the Kurota. With this gift, Yakunko warriors seized the throne from its rightful rulers and thereafter cruelly and brutally cleaved their way through twenty-four generations of rule. For this very reason, Tsote detests having been born Yakunko. He wished his Kurota never manifested. Nevertheless, a threat twice greater and more dangerous than the Kurota lingering in the shadows waiting for the right moment to alter all timing and power there is amongst all men. Not until Mama Erusa, the village's blind storyteller reveals to Tsote an inheritance of magical Olko beads his mother left behind with a promise that one day when Tsote is of age, they'd guide him to his fate; this was the time. Tsote's quest begins...
“Wheel of the People” is set fifteen years from now in East Africa, at the brink of the unification of the East African Union member states. It a story that will change everything you knew about African power and future politics. Much about this story, I have already mentioned. Synopsis: The East African community finally agrees to join hands to become one as a nation. Presidents who already served two terms and above in their respective states are denied participation in the Union's pre-presidential election. As the Union prepares for its pre-presidential elections, President Salim Savimbi of Uganda threatens to withdraw from the Union. The Union terms his withdraw illegal and a threat to its future. Amidst the confusion, President Salim invites the USA Interpol into Uganda. The Interpol was on a regional search for RAT, a weapon of mass destruction the US made first hoping to cripple Japan's might in the East in 1943. Unfortunately, the US lost the weapon in a ragging storm over the East African Great Lakes region until 2031. Shortly after Interpol’s arrival, a C4 bomb explodes in Kampala claiming several high-profile lives. President Salim is alleged the murderer! This stirs up the Union making a civil war inevitable! Nevertheless, President Salim shows no signs of fear for a pack of barking dogs. What happens when a wounded, angry puppy bites his pride?
Besides those two I have written another novella about Tsote (the fifteen-year-old boy and main character in “The Mystery of the Olko Beads”). It’s about ten chapters shorter than the first story. However, I called this “Tsote and the Sunflower Famine”. Its events occur three years before the events of “The Mystery of the Olko Beads”. A random reader of this interview may wish to check it out just in case they found the Olko Beads story interesting.

In what ways do the plot points of “Tsote and the Sunflower Famine” influence the events in “The Mystery of the Olko Beads”?
These two stories happen in the same cultural setting. The only difference is, I tried my best not involve Tsote and the Sunflower Famine story with any character from “The Mystery of the Olko Beads”. The reason is, I was on a journey of writing a hot story about each of the major characters I very well knew were appearing somewhere in the first part of “The Ascendants’”, A Legend of Tsote - Book One.
Sote was the first and I gave him a novella. And writing the Sunflower Famine story was one way I could take the origins of individual characters I found very influential to the major book and Tsote's adventure until he is a grown-up warrior.
Opit Ramundo is the great sunflower famer's son in the Sunflower Famine story. They are best friends with Tsote. Opit's father is the reason why the southern lands of the Yakunko Empire have survived the past three years of a continuing famine. He discovered the sunflower crop with lots of other super-natural benefits I can’t mention here, but the lands and its people loved and honored Menshi Yudo Ramundo for a discovery that sustained thousands of lives in hundreds of south villages.
The famine isn't anywhere close to ending and Menshi Yudo Ramundo is sickly. Everyone is worried he might die, and the sunflower crop may end with him. But he has a son and wishes he may take on the family crop farming legacy. Unfortunately, the son isn’t interested. He wants to train alongside his best friend Tsote so they become great Yakunko warriors like he heard about the warriors of the old times who built the foundation of the Yakunko Empire.
The two boys are inseparable, and they'll learn a lot from their stubbornness and thick-headedness, most especially around the time the survival of thousands of lives may have shifted onto their shoulders at such a tender age. And any stupid decision could lead to the total dissolution of the whole Yakunko Empire. Unfortunately, Opit Ramundo and everyone else don’t appear again in “The Mystery of the Olko beads”. Opit Ramundo appears again in “The Ascendants (A Legend of Tsote)”.
After many years north of the Yakunko Empire where he'd travelled with his father's caravan a year after the famine, he returns South a fully grown up, wealthy and influential man in the affairs of the Northern desert trade tribes.
When Tsote's friend Opit left the south, Tsote remained another five years training as a young Yakunko Kurotandi warrior. Kurotand is a term Yakunko clansmen gave to boys born with the gift of shape shifting. A gift that allowed the Yakunko tribesmen close to twelve generations of rulership over their eight sister clans.
The Kurotandi training was meant for all Yakunko boys born with the gift of the Kurota, Opit wasn’t born with it and they were trained to serve in the Yakunko emperor’s personal special Kurotandi guard the rest of their lives, which was every Yakunko boys' dream and father's wish for at least one of their sons. However, there is a lot of bad and minimally good Toste will learn about this extra-ordinary gift, his life without a mother and father, his tribe's past and future before embracing his fate.

Has your readership outside Africa increased as a result of word of mouth and net advertising?
My greatest readership comes from constant social media interactions with other writers and readers in different writers’ groups. Facebook and Instagram helped me a lot with getting my stories known outside Africa. Aside from that, I’ve been illustrating most of the characters in “The Mystery of the Olko Beads”. Illustrating my characters’ likenesses even without colors has given my readers a grander point of view of the Olko Beads story and similarly bolstered their understanding and attachment to that imaginary world and its ways. This I have learned from feedback and reviews. It motivates and inspires me to go on. This hasn't earned me money because my stories are still free for all readers but pushed my creations beyond.

Who are some of the authors you’ve met and started corresponding with on social media? In what writers’ groups did you start exchanging messages?
Around the end of 2019, while posting about “The Ascendants Awakening”, I came across a popular story titled “Her Paper Marriage” by a random young lad, C.G Hope. She had around forty thousand readers and I hadn’t reached even ten thousand readers on Wattpad. She was published for the same story on several other online sites. And the story was doing three times or more greater than mine. Being a Ugandan, I sent her a message and when she discovered my stories, she too was surprised and applauding “The Ascendants”. We became great friends ever since. She has taught me a lot about online marketing for my stories.
Having left university with a goal to turn “The Ascendants” mini-series into a series of fantasy graphic novels, I took to deeper research and learning about the business, its ups and downs. Like any dreamer I knew what I wanted and how important it is to try and learn from professionals. So during lockdown while I wrote “The Mystery of the Olko Beads”, I did a great deal of research about comics and 2D & 3D animation films making that part of our long-term goals. I saw comics I never knew did exist about African mythology, legends and folklore. I was intrigued. One was “Black Sands Ent”, founded by Manuel Godoy. He wrote about Egyptian mythologies, a genre many never to as sword and sorcery. The other is Milton Davis. He is a fantastic fiction writer and owner of MVmedia LLC, a publishing company specializing in science fiction and fantasy based on African and African Diaspora culture, history and tradition. His most notable works include “From Here to Timbuktu”, “Changa’s Safari”, “Amber and the Hidden City”, “Griots”, “Terminus” and more. I haven’t gotten his attention really to respond to much of my questions, but his stories do inspire me a lot.
Around the end of the lockdown, I learned about Youneek Studios and associated with a lot more comic creators in North and South Africa where close to 70% of the indigenous comic books are created. I joined lots of Indie comic book creators’ groups on Facebook and followed many other creators on Instagram. I was challenged by how much was out there already.
I started character designing, sketching out lots of my characters when I realized close to 90% of all the creators I associated with online, first promoting their manga/comic projects ahead of the actual publication. Unfortunately, I was financially down and couldn’t even afford a graphics tablet in Uganda. Then I learned about Indiegogo and Gofundme and close to 80% of all indie comic creators I communicated with were actually relying on crowd funding via these sites and others to finance their projects.
I met lots of challenges and limitations for my country, region, taxes and banking of the funds. I went to look for a day job which meant a lot would wait until my team and I made the startup funds. Nevertheless, I’m determined and believe we shall get there come what may. As Andy Kileen, an English author and good friend living in Uganda once told me, “There is a big potential market in the UK for African fantasy fiction. People are looking for something different from the usual Tolkien/Game of Thrones.” This encouraged me to continue writing science fiction and fantasy even though creators’ gadgets and funds weren’t readily available yet.

Tell the readers who Andy Killeen is, what he has published and if you and he have worked together at all? When and how did you meet him?
Andrew Killeen is a writer, editor, and traveler. Originally from Birmingham, England. Andy is currently living in Kampala, Uganda, after five years in China. In the UK he worked with homeless and vulnerable families, was an indie DJ and ran a literary festival. You can Google about him and discover his acclaimed historical thrillers. Some of his works include “The Father of Locks” and “The Khalifah’s Mirror/Fragments: Stories and Poems”.
I first encountered him on a Facebook post. He was probably just several months landed in Uganda. He posted to share about one of his first writer/young aspiring writer workshops meant to occur somewhere in Kampala in 2019. Due to some circumstances, I wasn’t able to attend even though I really needed to.
Two months later he organized a young writer’s meeting In Kampala, which I made sure I attended. His efforts made a very positive impact on the few that attended the meeting. I hadn’t met even more than two Ugandan writers. This meeting got me in closest contact with young writers who were as passionate and creative as I was. As young writers from a third world country we shared so many similar challenges. All I can say, a lot was shared, and it improved something about how I thought about writing and creating fiction. Not long after the lockdown began. We had a WhatsApp group through which I stayed in close communication with him; he enlightened me more about writing and it helped transform my approach to creating.

Through Facebook and Instagram, have you by any chance met any graphic artists who would be interested in designing art for your work?
I’ve talked to Raudric Curtis of Royal House Comics and several other graphic artists who are more than willing to illustrate and color our very first comic book issue. I’ve always held my breath whenever I saw the price lists, especially for African science fiction/fantasy fiction. The prices range between $60 and $180 which is one month’s rent for a one room house in my country. However, I got a day paying job last month and hopefully I’ll get to accumulate these funds to have our very first issue worked on. Then, I’ll have something to use for a fund raiser campaign on Indiegogo or GoFundMe.

At the rate its going now, do you think African comic art and fiction etc will be accepted in the US and other countries?
Sure. African comics and manga of all genres, most especially superheroes, are emerging. Comic book creators from Uganda and the continent at large seek to change the meaning of diversity, bringing relatable characters and rich storytelling traditions to the increasingly popular industry.
Famed African superheroes like Black Panther hail from the diaspora but demand for Afrocentric stories has remained limited in a market dominated by U.S. publishers like DC and Marvel, together comprising of over half the global industry according to data compiled by Diamond Comic Distributors.
However, East African, Nigerian and South African creators are now demanding and pushing for greater representation, as a number of self-starting entrepreneurs like Chris Mugaru, Elupe Comics, and Atro Universe are emerging with original comics with an African focus capable of attracting readers in the USA and Europe.
The Japanese answer to comics, Manga, has long infected Western culture with its unique art style and fantastic storylines and I’m an avid fan. People in the States love Japanese culture and want to go to Japan because of Manga, explaining why we need to do the same or better down here in terms of quality, diversity and compelling African stories. Just as Manga has done, Atro Universe hopes that the development of African comic books can spread Africa’s cultures around the world because the main reason we tell stories in our culture is to tell morals and give lessons.
Despite past depictions, African stories are now on the rise with the presence of events such as Lagos Comic Con and Free Comic Book Day in Cape Town. Although South Africa is more established in terms of art production, including the comic “Super Strikas” which is read all over Africa, the continent’s largest economy is making strides into the diaspora market with fresh characters. Presently, Nigeria seems the most resolved on making the African comic industry a real thing. It’s the guys who do it out of their own pockets who are propelling African comics into the U.S. and European markets. There is great potential in African comics by Africans. Nevertheless, major regional, social and economic challenges are yet to be stomped to find greater impact in the U.S. and Europe. Among these is the general poverty; 80% of aspiring creators lack the necessary funds and gadgets required to run quality/world class productions comparable to DC or Marvel. There is poor/expensive Internet access; social media algorithms seem to restrict lots of essential African creator contents due to various unclear reasons. In turn this limits our readers’ base in the diaspora from accessing/viewing or ever knowing anything about major African narratives.
Atro Universe isn’t any different from the other young creators. But there is a great possibility of penetrating overseas market/readers for Ugandan/African comics if such challenges are ironed out.

Can you name some more of the comics being published by Chris Mugaru and Elupe Comics? Do they have email addresses and ordering information for the readers?
Chris Mafigiri Mugaru is one of the few senior pioneers. He recently launched a comic book, “Children of War”, at the Goethe Zentrum Kampala Uganda German Cultural Society offices in Kampala. In 2013, he won a Uganda comic artists’ competition sponsored by UGCS. Dominic Muwanguzi talked to him about his love for comics, the influence the art form has on other visual arts, and the future of his passion turned profession.
“Children of War” is a cross genre comic book, adventure, futuristic, and political history. It is a fascinating story that takes you through an ideological time of Africa’s unification, the characters that are the axis of this unification and their lives. It is a story he hopes to turn into a graphic novel.
I met Chris Mugaru my very first time in 2019 during my final year at Makerere University. It was by coincidence I recall. We walked close to a kilometer from the University to a nearby students' hostel town called Makerere Kikoni. When he learned that I was of the same faculty of art from which he himself graduated, we found relating topics to hold our conversation. He told me he majored in Illustration as a course unit during his final year in university. He was an Alumni who left the university seven years earlier.
The moment I heard he was an illustration artist and comic book writer; I was loosened up to reveal that I was a fine artist and creative writer. He asked what exactly I have written, and I narrated three different stories. He was more than impressed and asked for my number when we were ready to part, requesting if we could meet and talk more over the weekend. He called me once before the weekend to inquire of we could meet. We met again at a cafe and he asked to hear a little more about “The Asc3ndants”.
Unfortunately, I never saw him again until this day but I had a belief we would work out something together... but, maybe it wasn’t the time then. I was researching on Google about the number of comic books and animation creators we got in Uganda and his face popped up at the top of the list. I was glad we shared a moment face to face but dared not bother him.
I instead got connections with Elupe Comics to learn more about the comic industry and business they were already into. What I can say is they are such an awesome team of artists to reckon with. Elupe Comics has a website if any random reader would love to find out more about their astounding works. Simply Google the creators name as I’ve typed it.

Are Lagos Comic Con and Free Comic Book Day growing in attendance despite the limited internet exposure? Do you think these shows will eventually become as large as conventions in Europe and the U.S.?
I learned that fifty years ago, a bunch of comics fans in San Diego decided they wanted a way to meet other creators and other fans. They were mostly teenagers - okay, and two adults. What resulted is a pop culture phenomenon we know as San Diego Comic Con. Over time this was emulated by creators from different parts of the world. Lagos Comic Con is one of many other international creator conventions borne of the same ideal.
The practice and an attendance of hundreds of creators from a wide range of African cultures has inspired hundreds of other aspiring creators and smaller conventions across and around Africa. The first Lagos Comic Con took place in September 2012 with about 300 guests in attendance.
So far, Lagos Comic Con is the largest and most sounding far in Africa. This is because of its networking platform where creators get to meet others who are doing amazing things. Local and international artists get to see what others are doing and go away challenged and inspired to step up their game. Aside from exhibitions, awards, competitions and stage performances, the LCC hosts numerous workshops and panel discussions on industry most relevant topics.
With the impact of these conventions, young artists across Africa have grown aware of the limited misrepresentation of African narratives in the international creator industry. They have grown more aware about creator sites such as Fiver, Freelancer and other sites where they are pushing African narratives on a very determined level and positive basis and competing for foreign jobs. Job opportunities available on such sites have drastically reduced the levels of cybercrime induced by joblessness among youths.
Creators and fans at Lagos Comic Con are concentrated in the 17–35-year-old range which makes up of over 90% of the guests. More interestingly, as the years passed, female attendees grew to make up as much as 40% of the guests. This is due to the wide variety of creative art fields the Lagos Comic Con focuses on such as films, books, gaming, virtual reality and more. The other reason why we created Atro Universe Ltd and its Atroverse Creators' Association is that East African aspiring creators can hardly participate nor access Lagos Comic Con due to poor and highly taxed internet access. We believe we shall inspire others so that African comic conventions are compared to San-Diego Comic Con given time, enthusiasm among our local creators and above all oneness.
Concerning the free comic book day in South Africa: Being that comics are essentially a modern version of telling stories in pictures, they’ve been used vastly to tell stories in the most fantastic ways that share political ideas, agendas, and certainly made mockeries of political figures in every age. From those Saturday morning comics in newspapers to lavish pieces of erotic fiction, there probably isn’t a single topic that hasn’t been touched on by the comic artist’s pen. Lovers of 2D and 3D animation even have a tendency of thanking artists behind their best original animated films, as each frame of the films were originally hand-drawn by dedicated artists. So, Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) puts these amazing works of art and literature into the hands of even those that can’t afford them by offering free comic books for every one of every age.
Joe Field established Free Comic Book Day in 2001. At the time he was running a comic bookstore that was located next door to a Baskin Robbins ice cream shop, which seemed to garner a great deal of promotional equity from their Free Scoop Day. He was inspired to imagine what a free comic book day might be like! While writing for a magazine of the comic industry, Joe noted there had been a resurgence in comic purchases in the wake of the recent flow of comic book franchise movies. Society and finances were both looking favorably on this unending wealth of diverse stories. And that’s when Joe suggested the institution of a Free Comic Book Day, synced with superhero popularity, to spread the fandom as wide as possible.
The first Free Comic Book Day coincided with the opening of the 2002 Spider Man film, hoping to ride on the wave of promotion and all of the hubbub going on about it in the news and other media sources.
While not every year sees Free Comic Book Day coming into line with the release of another feature film, it often happens as a matter of providence. While the comics do cost the retailers a small amount each in overhead, they are routinely given away to all comers to help drive interest in the comic book hobby. As a promotional event, the day seems to increase business traffic and sales in comic book stores overall. And this is another of Atroverse Universe’s visions. We hope to pioneer the set of the first free comic book store/library in the central part of Uganda and to every region of the country where children and youths 8-25 years of age can freely access them within the community library premises.
It’s been a year now since I started discussing this idea and vision for the spread of the comic book pop culture to different regions of Uganda as a way of speeding up local’s understanding of the relevance and impact of comics to young people. We needed to do this so we could widen indie creator to markets Marvel and DC have not been able to crack into yet. Fortunately, the idea has been bought by many Diasporan and North African indie comic creator most of which are willing to donate several of their works towards the Atroverse community libraries. The idea is still yet to be put into action by the members of the association and we hope to lay the first brick of the library’s foundation next year, October 6, 2023, if all goes well.
The Association is a powerful engine towards the ironing out of all the above-mentioned challenges. However, most creators have different opinions and worries about the intentions and goals of the Association claiming it’s not the first they have been a member of. They say they have been in several other associations which leadership and goals faced difficult challenges which eventually led to their collapse. Some other young professionals loved the idea but still asked me to grow it and ensure it survives its early challenges before they could join. It showed me that creators weren’t hearing this their very first time.
They may have been a part of several other non-creator associations and believed the same challenges that crippled the others could crumble Atroverse creators’ association in the short or long run. Hence very few seemed interested. Others believe the leaders are opportunists due to what they might have met elsewhere. Yet we have outlined all these challenges to know where they usually sprout so we could iron them out before they can cripple this association too. The foundation is hard to stabilize because we are limited to certain resources, but we are also open to any external support in case one found interest in the ideas, mission and goals to help us safeguard our association against the challenges those disagreeing to join met elsewhere or foresee coming our way.
As we speak, art is a much-undervalued skill or talent in Uganda and yet I believe we are a great inspiration to scientific and technological sectors. Science and technology would crawl without the influence of art. Children have found paramount interest, love and inspiration to venture into science and technology due to the technological and scientific imaginations of artists and creators exhibited through imagery. However, our country and governments in East Africa have given the fields of art a very ignorant eye. And yet to effectively inspire children and youths between eight to twenty-five, the government must get involved. And the only way to attract international organizations’ creators’ grants and our very own government’s attention, trust and eventual support, is through a joint body.
Presently, creators and their marvelous works have long been overshadowed and absorbed by the value and quality of internationally established creator companies. But through a powerful association like Atroverse Creators’ Association, under visionary, determined and experienced leadership, local creators and their works shall be facilitated, promoted, trained where necessary, supported financially and technologically depending on what type of work, portrayed message and its impact on the general basis.
When the works are fully ready, the association will work hand in hand with national media houses, learning institutions like secondary schools, universities and other government bodies and ministries responsible for culture, arts, science and technologies so that a piece of work by any of our association members finds value in the local market to compete equally on the international market against established international creator companies and their popular works.
In a way, this will propel the whole local creator industry into a positive direction.

What kind of an impact do you want to have on other authors through your writing?
I’d like to inspire writers from my country to work alongside talent they don’t have so they can get their works out there. There are writer/authors in my country who can write astounding pieces of novels and novellas but can barely draw a cup on its actual shape. The same way, there are many talented artists whose talents with the pencil, pen or paint brush are incomparable. Still there are thousands of youths graduated with first class degrees in IT, graphics design and 3D animation or character design. Some have specialized in fields which only and only when brought together can an industry find a face and power to be heard or power to counter public ignorance about the relevance of creators and power enough to stomp on all challenges suffocating all young indie creators in Uganda and East Africa at large.


-Dave Wolff

Sunday, June 26, 2022

EP Review: Vagus "Sulfurous" (Impamiiz Productions) by Corban Skipwith

Band: Vagus
Location: Stockholm
Country: Sweden
Genre: Technical death metal
Format: Digital album
Label: Impamiiz Productions
Release date: June 16, 2022
Let me start off with a question. ‘Is there anything better than a straight to the point Metal album done right?’ The answer is simple.
Not in your fucking life!
Because that is one of life’s greatest joys as a metal head when you find a Metal album that hits all the right spots, utilizing the ‘meat and potatoes’ method creatively and with great technique as well as putting together a great, head banging EP that will stay in your memory for weeks to come.
This is exactly what these guys have done within this 4 track EP, stylistically it reminds me a lot of ‘Deathcore/Grindcore’ kind of a mash up between bands like ‘Suicide Silence (Mitch Era) and Dying Fetus’ real brutal and heavy instrumentation paired with some excellent and exciting use of production and execution on the parts of all the band members involved.
One thing I also love about this record is how apparently it’s dedicated to a man known as ‘Juro Immortal Harin’ who from what I’ve read helped the underground thrive and prosper which is a badass thing to be known for and something and someone I can respect!
I think as far as EP’s go this one is pretty solid, the key here they don’t fuck around and it’s enjoyable for all Metal fans across the board! Go check it out today! Corban Skipwith

Lineup:
Carl Birath: Vocals
Roger Johansson: Guitars
Fredrik Segell: Guitars
Linus Abrahamson: Bass
Tobias 'Rotten Boy' Persson: Drums

Track list:
1. Remote
2. Devouring
3. Sulfurous
4. Post-human

Saturday, June 25, 2022

Single Review: American Terror "Self Control" (EMP Label Group) by Corban Skipwith

Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Country: USA
Genre: Rock, punk, metal
Single: Self Control
From their forthcoming album “Where We Are” to be released July 8, 2022
Format: Digital, lyric video
Label: EMP Label Group
Release date: June 16, 2022
What a fitting band name for the latest single provided! Coming out a week ago now and honestly brings some of the most high energy, persistence and badass vibes then most I’ve heard all year!
Stylistically this songs like something you’d hear in the late 90’s, early to mid-2000’s ‘Nu Metal’ era it’s got those high energy vocal performances that only those bands seemed to hit! When I close my eyes I can hear acts such as ‘Dope’ or ‘Drowning Pool’ it’s very loud, very abrasive and 100% fun that you just can’t find anywhere!
I love the instrumentation as well, those slapping guitars and methodical drums work perfectly for this kind of single, the length makes for the perfect dose of sonic adrenaline that one would need for motivation to go to work, walk the dog, clean the house (or in my case write this review) because I can honestly say after a sleepless night and a 7am-4pm shift the day after the energy of this song helped me tenfold in getting the spike I needed to help let you all know how fucking good this track is!
So what are you waiting for? You tired? Play this! You’re not tired? Play this! There is no excuse because it covers all areas! Corban Skipwith

Lineup:
Brad Cox: Vocals
Pat Valley: Guitar
Murphy Karges: Bass
Rob Hammersmith: Drums
DJ Soulman: DJ

Thursday, June 23, 2022

EP Review: Narthex "The VVitch King" (Independent) by Dave Wolff

Band: Narthex
Location: Elizabethtown, Kentucky
Country: USA
Genre: Blackened doom metal
Format: Digital
Label: Independent
Release date: May 13, 2022
Founded in Kentucky, USA last year, Narthex released their third EP after “Narthex” and “Fallen Lords and Kingdoms”. The story is an ancient one, inspired by Tolkien's classic “Lord of the Rings” saga. The main character of "The VVitch King" is a servant of Sauron, the ruler of Mordor in “Rings”, a necromancer in “The Hobbit” and the chief lieutenant of Lord Morgoth in “The Silmarillion”.
Although Tolkien did not believe in absolute evil, he nonetheless depicted Sauron as the close a character could come to absolute evil, while depicting the forces of good as being capable of erring and failure. Sauron was often compared to Bram Stoker's "Dracula"; he was further compared to a Celtic folklore legend known as Balor, leader of malevolent beings known as the Fomorians. Considering this, it makes sense that a black/doom metal band would draw inspiration from Tolkien’s personification of evil.
A lone horn instrument launches "The VVitch King" into its olden twilight, announcing the coming of shadow and introducing you to the antagonist immediately afterward. We do not learn his name, only that he is an ancient king, an undying sorcerer who has endured years of obscurity and plotting and is now at last able to conquer. King after king falls before him as he claims his throne in preparation for a war to take the land of Agbar. The appeal of the antagonist’s introduction is simplicity itself as the tale begins.
While displaying a doom metal vibe reminiscent of Black Sabbath, Narthex displays a raw black metal sound similar to Maniac Butcher, Throne Of Ahaz, The Abyss, and The Black. As I was surveying the guitar sound and the production in general, all these bands from the 90s came to mind. Despite how often I say this, I think it is fitting because the razor-sharp/sandpapery qualities of the guitars are quite recognizable. I also noticed how the bass lines drive the songs, complementing the guitars in an innovative, exciting way.
I don't want to give away the story beyond the first song, but if you're familiar with Tolkien's world, you know how it unfolds and eventually ends. It's a tragedy for the antagonist, but there are hints that the evil will survive in order to plot his return to retake the lands he lost. For their simplicity, Narthex are able to deliver the story of a classic saga as convincingly through their music as they are through their lyrics. "The VVitch King" is a good example of less is more and building songs from the basics. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:
Magus: Vocals
The Black Wizaard: Guitars
Dazaran Mog: Bass
Mutilator: Drums

Track list:
1. The VVitch King
2. Cells of Hollow Hand
3. Narthex
4. Fall of the VVitch King
5. The VVitch King (acoustic)
6. Gospel of Magus

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Full Length Review: Basalt Shrine "From Fiery Tongues" (Various labels) by Corban Skipwith

Band: Basalt Shrine
Location: NCR
Country: Philippines
Genre: Doom/post metal
Full Length: From Fiery Tongues
Format: Digital, vinyl, jewel case CD, digipak CD, cassette, special edition cassette, limited edition cassette
Labels; Electric Spark (Netherlands), Surrogate Rec. (Ukraine), Cruel Nature Records (UK), Three Moons Records (Poland), Aim Down Sight Records (Germany), Electric Talon Records (USA), PAWN (Ph), Harrowing Industries (Indonesia)
Release date: June 13, 2022
{Year: 2066 13:00, Day: Unknown}
How long has passed since I felt safe, with each passing minute of survival I lose a little bit more sanity, faith and empathy. At night is the worst for I have no resources for power, darkness my only constant as I grip my blade tight at hand I cry ‘How long’ just ‘How long’ has passed since I last felt safe.
It could be midnight, pre sunrise or fresh sunset I can never know, paranoia engulfing me, fear embodies me and as I saturate myself in {THAWED SLAG BLOOD} I utter the same useless prayer as my mother of old taught me.
‘O Father Who Are In Heaven, Forgive Thy Sins For I am just a imperfect vessel thus unworthy of judgment but always in need of your strength, in the lords name Amen’ muttering these words in the pitch of night is the last remaining source of ‘hope’ I have left, the world is gone lost {IN THE DIRT’S EMBRACE} the children’s laughter, the sound of glee on the radio, the mindless chatter heard between city to city all but a distant memory in a now dessert of pure anarchy and chaos…god help us all.
I, the lone survivor of this hell we call home. Cursed to perish while cowardice keeps me here to endure this living nightmare hour by waking hour, how many days has gone since I last felt the sunlight, only shadows remain on a world once beaming with life now just like me {ADORNED FOR LOATHING PIGS} confident that each step forward will be my last, oh mighty Lucifer who rule over these treacherous lands please spare me thy pain, days on end nothing but foul roadkill to quench my stomach, sickness follows, agony accompanies me {FROM FIERY TONGUES} I kneel waiting for the bliss of death but I remain unworthy.
In {THE BARREN AFTERMATH} of wreckage that once was ‘life’ I write to you this declaration that nothing is as it was, any unfortunate soul who happens to find these writings understand this. GOD. IS. DEAD. Nothing but ‘HE’ remains and rules dominion over this world, society was naïve to deny his existence, mocking his power we would, oh how ignorant we were.. LIFE AS YOU KNOW IT IS NO MORE, THE TRUTH HAS COME FREE and in my last cowardice breath I write.
‘How long?, How long until you too are forced to serve under HIS command’ with this I bid you my final words and my life. Truly God has forsaken us… long live ‘BASALT SHRINE’. Corban Skipwith

Lineup:
Rallye Ibanez: Bass, vocals
Bobby Legaspi: Guitars, Vocals
Ronnel Vivo: Guitars
Ronaldo Vivo: Drums

Track list:
1. Thawed Slag Blood
2. In The Dirt's Embrace
3. Adorned For Loathing Pigs
4. From Fiery Tongues
5. The Barren Aftermath

Full Length Review: Wax Mekanix "Mobocracy" (Electric Talon Records) by Corban Skipwith

Band: Wax Mekanix
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Country: USA
Genre: Metal, alternative, stoner rock
Full Length: Mobocracy
Format: Digital album
Release date: November 20, 2020
Man I love discovering new amazing and groovy albums and that’s exactly what we have here today.
Looking at the album cover for this album I didn’t really know what to think, I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know what kind of vibe I was in for so when I click that play button and let the music do its thing I was happily surprised with what came out!
What we have here is an album just shy of 27 minutes of rocking vibes some of the most interesting blends of rock and metal that you’ll find anywhere and I mean anywhere and all of it works! Some of the styles you’re hearing on this album such as rock and roll, blues, country rockabilly, alternative metal and more!
What’s impressive to me is that all the various moods and genre influences make the record sound ‘fun’ which I know may not be a big deal to some (hell for some that maybe the opposite of what you're looking for) but I honest felt like I was having a good time while listening this record, not to mention that the first two tracks sound like something ‘Queen’ would have made in their prime with such high energy and conviction, passion and heart that you just don’t find these days!
I also love how the vocals are so stripped back and mellow, so relaxed in the delivery of the harmonies and chords which I think only enhances the ‘fun’ element I spoke about above that this record has in spades!
I can’t say enough good things about this record! Go give it a listen below and I guarantee you’ll have a great time! Corban Skipwith

Lineup:
Wax Mekanix: Lead and Backing vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Drums, Percussion (Tracks 1-6)
Lectriq: Backing vocals, Percussion (Tracks 1-6)
Brandon Yeagley: Backing vocals (Tracks 1-6)
Chris Bishop: Electric & Acoustic Guitars (Tracks 2, 3, & 6)
Tom Altman: Guitar, Bass (Tracks 1, 2 , 3, & 5)
Wendell PoPs Sewell: Guitar, Bass (Tracks 1, 2, 3, & 5)
John Hazel: Guitar, Bass (Track 4)
Raje Shwari: Backing vocals (Track 3)
M11SON: Backing vocals (Track 2)
Tommy Conwell: Backing vocals (Track 2)
Nataliya Odud: Backing vocals (Track 2)
Eli Goldman: Backing Vocals (Track 2)

Track list:
1. Blood in My Eyes
2. Victorious
3. All Freaks
4. Mad World
5. Ghostland
6. Black

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Full Length Review: Hororhaus "La Pisadeira" (transmigration records imprint) by Corban Skipwith

Project: Hororhaus
Location: Woodstock, New York
Country: USA
Genre: Blackened hauntwave
Full Length: La Pisadeira
Format: Compact disc, digital album
Label: transmigration records imprint
Release date: June 6, 2022
‘La Pisaderia’ is a concept album which is an auditory nightmare come to life inspired by sleep paralysis.
Do you hear the shit I have to review? Damn I swear I’ve gotten 5 of these types of ‘nightmare/torture’ related concept albums and all of them take off a little bit more of my moral sanity at a time my god.
This is the latest record to come out this year June and I mean as someone who actually has experienced ‘sleep paralysis’ in their lifetime this thing is as you would expect ‘Terrifying’. It’s 12:04am midnight here in Australia and I’m sitting here getting ready to play something as light hearted and funny as possible to counteract the nightmare which is this record from destroying my week to come.
Let’s talk production because this record has been specifically designed to tear out any shred of peace or stability inside the human being and replace it with absolute fear, agony, pain and suffering and boy oh boy does it leave a lasting effect.
This is an instrumental effort which makes it that much more devastating as your left with nothing but the haunting sounds of someone trying to recreate the most scary moment I’ve had in my life, so if your someone who gets a sadistic kick from feeling like your internally suffering then by all means this is the record for you.
Look, if I dwell on this record too much more I’ll probably have to check into a mental institution for real, this fucking record is creepy as all hell so I guess they did their job perfectly! Corban Skipwith

Lineup:
Scott Harris: Music, lyrics, vocals, programming

Track list:
1. Hypnagogia
2. Bewitching Theta
3. Phantasmal Gravitation
4. Ghost Oppression
5. Negative Ascension
6. Transfixation
7. Awakening

Interview with Tregor Russo of Dionisyan by Dave Wolff

Interview with Tregor Russo of Dionisyan by Dave Wolff

Tregor Russo, Dionisyan's founding member, has been an artist, music teacher, actor, director, radio speaker, and photo reporter among other vocations. What inspired him to form the band? What bands did he previously work with?
I made DIONISYAN for the very important influence that Sicily had on all fronts of art, culture, politics, democracy, history and more in the period of Magna Greece, from the eighteenth century to the two hundred before Christ.
Surely DIONISYAN are the never life as I love DOOM METAL especially the extreme one, rich in techniques, complex, intricate and complicated in the compositions. Dionisyan were one of my first most appreciated and internationally recognized projects.
I have composed and arranged all my albums entirely, but the one that has sold more than twenty thousand copies is the second album Delirium and Madness which came out in 2017, then The first ep Land Of Dreams was instead printed in 2012, while the first album The Mystery of Faith in 2014, both also with excellent international acclaim.
Inside me, there is a constant catharsis, synonymous with change and at the same time my music also changes. My visionary madness as a multifaceted and whimsical artist can be contagious and intriguing. In all DIONISYAN Albums I have combined classical music with progressive rock and metal!
There are no specific categories, you will see what I will come up with.

To fuse atmospheric doom metal with melodic death metal, prog rock, medieval, ethnic, Middle Eastern, and classical music, what was the inspiration? How much are the other band members involved in this development?
I am a Professional Artist, Music Teacher, Composer, Arranger, Singer, Poet, Writer, Actor, Movie Director, Music Producer, Sound Engineer, Artistic Director, Radio Speaker and Photoreporter. In all my Music Productions I have played 6, 7 and 8 string electric guitars, classical guitar, 4 and 5 string bass, drums, keyboards, percussion and various ethnic instruments, having also written all the lyrics and English poems for all the concepts of my Albums.
In my productions innovative, original and revolutionary ideas are proposed, amalgamating various genres including Metal, Classical, Jazz Fusion, Progressive Rock, Traditional Middle Eastern, Ethnic, Latin and Folk.
My great passion, professionalism, elegance, refinement are the ingredients that distinguish me as an Artist, always ready to experiment and evolve with a very personal style that makes all my works unique in their kind. Yes, I studied in various academies and became a first-level teacher of music, as well as composer, arranger, orchestrator and opera singer.
I love music since I was practically born and from an early age I was a child prodigy, destined to take this path that would lead me to realize my professional career.

With whom are you collaborating in Dionisyan? Was it difficult to find other musicians who wanted to cross over so many different genres to work with?
I Played all the Instruments in the Recording Studio, I directed the male gregorian singers who took part in the recording of Album of which an opera female singer and the little female chorus, alternating their voices and vocal techniques, with a great result, recluting them from the regional Academy Music of Palermo.
For the third Opera LAST MILLENNIUM I had decided to propose it as a one man band, among other things I have always done everything I therefore did not change anything, except for the fact that the sessions were only for doing live concerts.
Currently I don't feel the need to have others in the Band, then one day who knows to make lice concerts…

What is the importance of classical music in Dionisyan's songwriting?
The Last Millennium’s Third Opera was deliberately written, composed and arranged in polyrhythmic contrapuntal polyphonic by Me, throughout the Album is also the first and the second album a great musical innovation dawns where together with progressive melodic death metal and atmospheric doom metal, melting and combined classical music, music baroque, Gregorian chants, creating a unique masterpiece of its kind, among other things playing all the instruments being a multi-instrumentalist, singing in Clean, Harsh and Growl styles to give a deep identity of my Innovative Music.

How much experience do the other band members have and how does this benefit Dionisyan?
Alone I worked on this last Third Album for a total of two months, as all DIONISYAN’s albums and ep, creating the main melodic lines with the seven-string electric guitar, and then writing the other compositions and arrangements for the other musical instruments!
For that Third Opera LAST MILLENNIUM my ways of composing music was intricate and complex as always, but Last Millennium is different from the others, over the years I have created my own. Style, making it unique for the richness of the details that I put in each of my compositions to make my works very fascinating and mystical at the same time.
My way of composing usually follows the realization of a score of the main melodic line of a rhythm guitar, on which I then compose everything else in superimposition.
The music gradually and currently mixes doom metal and baroque music, giving the band a good standout. Escaping the commonplace where many bands meet, DIONISYAN makes a difference, presenting distinct and refined music.

So far, the band has released an EP and three full-length albums. Are they all independently released or do labels assist you in promoting and distributing any of them?
In this period me, the Decibel label and Ocularis Inferno managements promote together the third Album LAST MILLENNIUM of DIONISYAN, as well as being my last seventh album in my career.
They are a little label but in this absurd and chaotic period that we are living in the pandemic, everything has slowed down, or almost completely stopped due to the infections and we are waiting for the plant from Austria to print the physical CDs, postcards and T-shirts to finally be able to sell to all my fans around the world.
The band came to the fore in 2010 and in 2012 released the Land of Dreams Ep. Subsequently came the full-lengths The Mystery of Faith - (2014), Delirium and Madness (Concerto Grosso Opera №2 in G Minor) - (2017), and in (2021), Last Millennium.
Dionisyan's music from the beginning stood out for including atypical instruments to metal.
The music gradually and currently mixes atmospheric doom metal and baroque music, giving the band a good standout. Escaping the commonplace where many bands meet, Dionisyan makes a difference, presenting distinct and refined music. You know religion has no weight and does not revolve around my life and neither in my art. Yes in Italy people live in Catholicism but it is completely subjective.
Everyone lives religion on the basis of their beliefs, their mentality, the standard of living, the type of rank to which they belong, traditions, customs and so on. Certainly I speak of Christian religion in DIONISYAN because I am fascinated by many aspects that I like to analyze and examine in my albums, especially in the new third album LAST MILLENNIUM by my DIONISYAN, where I wrote a Concept to talk about an old Sicilian Prophecy.

How does each of your releases represent a step in your life evolution?
My first artistic and cultural memories date back to high school, that's where I started writing without stopping. “I loved French decadence and Italian romanticism. I saw myself again, as a character, in the poignant Foscolo or in the Leopardi complex “. It is a world, that of sensitivity and suffering, which I could no longer do without. An exploit of emotions that leads to an intrinsic change of personality. “I am extremely tormented. Sadness, melancholy and loneliness become my inspiring muses. Elements dealt with, in fact, in my first two books entitled Catarsi Redentrice, published by La Zisa Edizioni in 2018 and Al Rintoccar dei Sensi Assopiti published by Ex Libris Edizioni in 2020 both in Italy and in Europe, which I dealt with the themes of the contemporary era such as philosophy, spirituality and religion ". Love is precisely the noblest feeling at the basis of catharsis. "Love is something personal. Knowing how to listen and understand becomes fundamental. Like a flower that must be grown every day ". These and many other Words of mine are found in my first Two Books, in which I have constantly evolved. My Art that is transformed. Mute. I am also the Artist who pulls violent and sanguine music out of the guitar permeated by the poignant and melancholy melody, that is, In August 2021 my new Third Book entitled "Le Ferite Dell’Essere" published by Melqart Communications Editore was released, dealing with themes such as the absence of the ego, mental decline, self-centeredness, decadence and spiritual rebirth, inspired by my life experiences, enriched by some artistic photographs which I was able to rewrite my soul with a pen. Here I wrote aphorisms, long lyrics and thoughts which then became elements of the lyrics of our lives. While for my books I began to deal with the theme of love. It also deals with the mystery of faith, resurrection, philosophy, psychoanalysis and much more”.

Tell us why your song "In The Mirror Of My Soul" was chosen for a promotional video for your album "Delirium and Madness - Concerto Grosso Opera N° 2 in G Minor".
I Chose IN THE MIRROR OF MY SOUL song because is one of complex baroque doom metal song of the album with a typical baroque guitar virtuosism, giving a special atmospheric sound at the song.
The second work of my DIONISYAN was Delirium And Madness, a true Opera Metal but in the key of Baroque Music, in the full style of the Concerto Grosso of the first half of the eighteenth century.
I composed, arranged, orchestrated all the music and played all the instruments in the recording studio, I directed the two female singers who took part in the recording of the album of which an opera singer and a modern singer, alternating their voices and vocal techniques, with a great result.

How many promotional videos has the band produced in total? What companies have you worked on these videos with?
As Director, Executive Producer and Actor, I made and released the two Official Videoclips SPHERES OF HOURGLASS and DISMAL EMPTINESS I collaborate with Olga Kann artist graphic from Ukraine for the second lyric video PREDICTIONS and with Modotive artist graphic from Italy for the first Lyric Video GARDEN OF LOST SHADES.
All the promotional official video and lyric video were created for the Third Album LAST MILLENNIUM.

You can watch on Youtube the first promotional Lyric video "PREDICTIONS".

The second promotional Lyric Video “GARDEN OF LOST SHADES”.

The frst promotional Official Video “SPHERES OF HOURGLASS”.

The second promotional Official Video “DISMAL EMPTINESS”.

The Lyric Video and Official Video are taken off upcoming Third Album "Last Millennium" which will be released worldwide on June 10th 2022 via Decibel Productions.

Does Dionisyan have anything new coming out in the near future? If so how soon can we expect its release?
Actually I am working on a new Double Album with my other professional musical project GATES OF EDEN, which I created an original, complex, intricate and innovative Progressive Ethnic Metal! In the meantime, I want to thank you for having interviewed you and let both my old and my new fans know what I do in my artistic and cultural life.
I invite you to buy your copies with the postcards and t-shirts of new Third Chapter of my DIONISYAN band, entitled LAST MILLENNIUM.
Pre-order "LAST MILLENNIUM" to get limited edition jewel case CDs, postcards and T-Shirts. Stellar production with amazing music compositions and arrangements, melancholy lyrics of the Third DIONISYAN's Metal Opera.


-Dave Wolff

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Full Length Review: Enchantment "Cold Soul Embrace" (Transcending Records) by Dave Wolff

Location: Blackpool, Lancashire
Country: England, UK
Genre: Death/doom metal
Full Length: Cold Soul Embrace
Format: CD, digital
Release date: June 24th, 2022
It may have been twenty eight years since Enchantment released their album “Dance the Marble Naked”, but it was groundbreaking for death and doom metal, far ahead of its time. Their time having come around again, the band presents more of the innovation that set them apart from the rest of the English metal industry. Like Napalm Death, Cradle of Filth, My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, they set out to establish what hasn’t been tried and successfully pull it off.
Compared to the acts I listed Enchantment were relatively obscure and overshadowed when “Dance the Marble Naked” was released in the early 90s. While I can’t predict this will change with the release of “Cold Soul Embrace” they prove once again they’re deserving of greater recognition beyond the shores of their home country.
Imagine if Messiah Marcolin and Candlemass ingested massive amounts of steroids and LSD before recording a new album and there you have “Cold Soul Embrace”. The sound and production are colossal and polished without any ill effects on the heaviness they sought to capture in the studio. This furnishes every lyrical enunciation, note and drum hit with the impact of a sledgehammer smashing you full force across the chest, pummeling you consistently and mercilessly.
“Cold Soul Embrace” might even be considered too heavy if you don’t have the resilience to withstand the persistent hammering and profuse outpouring of emotion coming with it. The addition of acoustic sections, piano and keyboards help to ease their tendency to write heart rending progressions. Enchantment has an unwavering tendency to come across as plaintive and tragic while channeling their songwriting, but it’s so felicitously executed it gives the “beauty in darkness” concept new proportions.
The inventive ideas presented on “Dance the Marble Naked”, while being memorable, sometimes leaned toward being temporary as the band moved from song to song. On “Cold Soul Embrace” these elements are steadier, more congruous and more well thought out as bands can come to arranging their material, even after years of inactivity.
Songs like “Of Glorious Vistas Forgot”, “In A Cello-Felt Glare” and “The Beauty Of Liars” in particular sound like logical progressions from past releases, tightened, smoothed over, more structured and more elaborate. Taking these steps on their own, Enchantment’s work organically grows into something with potential to intrigue fans of gothic and classical metal as much as death and doom. This is the kind of spontaneous growth that outlives musical trends, underground of mainstream. –Dave Wolff

Track list:
1. As Greed As The Eye Beholds
2. A Swanlike Duet
3. Painting Amongst The Feathers
4. Of Glorious Vistas Forgot
5. The Wake Of The Hollering Tide
6. In A Cello-Felt Glare
7. The Beauty Of Liars
8. One Jump Of The Sun



Full Length Review: 1/2 Southern North "Narrations Of A Fallen Soul" (Satanath Records) by Corban Skipwith

Location: Kalamata
Country: Greece
Genre: Experimental black/doom metal
Full Length: Narrations Of A Fallen Soul
Format: Digital
Label: Satanath Records (USA)
Release date: April 8, 2022
Whose ready for another album review? In fact whose ready for another release by ‘Satanath Records?’ One of the most versatile and consistent labels I’ve seen via Bandcamp with I’m sure many reviews under my belt attributed to them.
This new release features 7 songs that definitely stand out from the rest and I feel will even stand on its own separate from the rest of the pack for years still because of just how ‘Avant-Garde’ the music is on this one. What we have here essentially is an eerie and cerebral mix of songs that sound more impactful then the next with each song to follow landing a harder emotional kick to the gut then the one before it, quite the interesting experience.
The instrumentation on this thing ranges from ‘Skeletal’ to ‘Ambient’, ‘Doom’ to ‘Post-Rock’, ‘Acoustic’ to ‘Classical’ and just everything in between it really is a wildfire of various sounds and sonic expressions that would have any music fan (not just Metal) curious for more.
When listening to this record one thing stands out more than the rest and that’s the singing because the woman in charge of the vocals gives one of the most scary, devastatingly strong performances I’ve never in some time, really since ‘Lingua Ignota’ have I heard such a raw and deeply personal style of singing that just can’t be shaken off! This woman sets the tone for the album and alongside such creative and introspective production it makes for a memorable listen overall.
If I was you, I wouldn’t want to miss this record. It’s packed with so many unique styles that it’s bound to stay in your memory and have you left Godsmacked for days on end! Corban Skipwith

Lineup:
IDVex: Compositions, guitars, bass, theremin, synthesizer, chelys lyre, vocals, lyrics
Guest musicians:
Philippos Lyrintzis: Drums (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6)
George Kastanos: Saxophone (track 6)
Efraimia Giannakopoulou: Violin (track 5)
Dimitris Soureas: Davul (track 2)
Stavros Panagiotopoulos: Kaval (track 2)
Malena Pereske: Dahare (track 2)
Polytimi Noea: Ancient Greek lyrics (track 2)

Track list:
1. Alpha Sophia
2. Hearts of Hades
3. Breastfeed Your Delightful Sorrow
4. Elegy of Hecate
5. Narrations of a Fallen Soul
6. Remnants of Time
7. Song to Hall Up High (Bathory cover)