Seremonia – “Seremonia” (2012)

Label : Svart Records

Review by Luisa Mercier

“Seremonia” is the Finnish word for “ceremony” and it conveys the world that the music of this band wants to create. Gloomy, dark, occult, evil, these are the adjectives that I will collocate with the songs they composed and even though in Finnish, the titles are quite explicit about the content and the source of inspiration. The self-titled intro is an electronic, mesmerizing piece that left with quite good expectations on what was to follow, but they were partially betrayed. First of all, I think that Noora‘s vocals are not suitable for this kind of music. She is quite cold, distant, not very expressive. Generally, women in occult/psychedelic rock deliver harsh, hard performances, but I also liked a lot the angelic voice of Jamie Myers in Sabbath Assembly.

So, I guess it’s just a subjective point of view. The low-fi production is a choice of the band, and I can understand the point, but there is something that just does not click with me. The sound of the guitars or the constant reverberation are not helping. Of course, there are interesting things too. The instruments department is good and the song “Aamuruskon Kaupunki” is quite varied and I liked the aggressive ending. Continue reading »

Noora Federley – Seremonia

Interview by Alessandra Cognetta

Everything’s great, thanks for asking. We`ve been playing a lot of shows here in Finland and enjoyed playing them. We are also working on a new album at the moment.

Seremonia is psychedelic hard rock with simple riffs, primitive sounds and lyrics in Finnish. Continue reading »

WIN 2 copies of “White Hoarhound”, the second album by UK Doom/Psychedelic Masters ALUNAH

Femme Metal Webzine in partnership of PLATINUM PR and PsycheDOOMmelic Records is offering 2 COPIES of “White Hoarhound”, the second album by UK Doom/Psychedelic Masters ALUNAH.

You don’t know ALUNAH‘s music? Help yourself out with our double REVIEW and our INTERVIEW.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO IN ORDER TO BE THE WINNER?

Well, you can act in 2 different ways :

1) Share the article link on FACEBOOK (tagging us @femmemetalwebzine – PLEASE REMEMBER to set as privacy setting PUBLIC – otherwise we won’t be able to watch your wall!) and TWITTER (mentioning us @femmemetalwebz)

2) If you haven’t do it, LIKE our Official Facebook Page and Alunah FB Page and become a FOLLOWER at the Official Femme Metal Webzine Twitter Account and Official Alunah Twitter Account 

/strong

Soph Day – Alunah

Interview by Alessandra Cognetta

Soph Day is the lead singer and guitarist for the English doom metallers Alunah. With two albums released and an upcoming European tour in 2013 we took the chance to have a nice chat with her about the band, the music, vinyl vs digital and more. If you’re into doom, check out their work (“White Hoarhound” is already out and is getting a special vinyl edition very soon!), you definitely won’t be disappointed.

Hello guys, thanks for having me! Yeah we’re very happy to be working with Austrian label Napalm Records and their sub company Spinning Goblin Productions. The label is very important in terms of metal, and more recently in terms of stoner and doom metal with the likes of artists such as Monster Magnet, Brant Bjork, Karma to Burn and Candlemass. It’s because of these artists that we came to be familiar with the label, and sitting amongst our musical inspirations is a dream come true. We released our debut album “Call of Avernus” on Catacomb Records which is run by myself and our guitarist Dave – so self-released really. “White Hoarhound”, our second album was released on PsycheDOOMelic Records, another well respected Austrian label which we are proud to be a part of. Napalm Records will be releasing “White Hoarhound” on limited edition green vinyl and white vinyl, we basically sent it over to them for consideration and they got in touch, we couldn’t be happier. Our PR Company Platinum PR also did an amazing job in getting us European press, which helped our profile over there greatly. The vinyl will be released on 25th January 2013, and pre-orders are available now from the label.

You get a completely different listening experience with vinyl than you do with any other kind of format. I’m a graphic designer so being able to see the artwork up close is important for me. I remember when I was 14 years old listening to my mom’s copy of Electric Light Orchestra‘s “Out of the Blue” for the first time. Staring into the amazing spaceship artwork and hearing this (for me) new sound blew me away, it gave me a whole new musical experience. In the 60s, especially with psychedelic bands such as The Grateful Dead and 13th Floor Elevators, the artwork was such an important part of the music, and that’s been passed onto the stoner, doom and psychedelic scenes. It’s definitely something we try to do with Alunah – make the artwork part of the music. With vinyl, the complete package is a piece of art, from the artwork and the way the sleeve folds out, to the colour of the vinyl and the warm sound and crackle of the music itself – it’s precious and means different things to different people. Also, my heart is rooted in the 60′s and the 70′s, so for me, my favourite albums of all time were meant for listening to on vinyl, and this is how they are best listened to. The first bands I heard on vinyl were Deep Purple, Electric Light Orchestra and T-Rex, I’m not sure I would feel the same about those recordings now if I had first heard them on mp3. However, if you live a life of convenience where you require music on the go as opposed to sitting down and drinking it all in, then digital music is great! I don’t actually own an mp3 player, but I have a Spotify account and racks upon racks of CDs. If I come across a great band or musician through Spotify, I’ll buy their album, and I’ve found so many bands this way. I would never choose to download the album and listen to it on an mp3 player, but I suppose if I had to take public transport or work outside etc. then I definitely would. Nowadays people have more choice as to how they listen to music, and that can only be a good thing, you can wake with music, spend all day with music and go to sleep with music… what’s better than that? Continue reading »

Comus – “East of Sweden – Live at The Melloboat Festival 2008″ (2011)

Label : Gnostic Dirt 

Review by Luisa Mercier

I did not know much about Comus before listening to this live album. I have came to know that it is a sort of reunion album after a long period of time (since 1972 they say in the live recording). As soon as I started listening, I understood that they are a worthy band anyway. They play a kind of progressive rock highly influenced by folk music with the addition of various instruments, flute above all. They have a ’70s flavor that is missing in contemporary music which sounds completely fresh to me since I had not the chance to live the period in which this kind of music was more popular. Musically they’re still perfect, and vocally Roger Wootton is obviously aged, but he still sounds good and the live recording is good. Someone complained about the fact that the crowd was barely audible, but for me it is better this way since I want to focus on the music not the audience. For lovers of prog rock, old flavors and moods this is a release they will enjoy for sure.

Rating – 75/100

Tracklist

1. Song to Comus 
2. Diana 
3. The Herald 
4. Drip, Drip
5. The Prisoner
6. Venus in Furs
7. Song to Comus 

Line Up

• Roger Wootton – Guitar & Vocals
• Bobbie Watson – Vocals & Percussion
• Glenn Goring – 6 String, 12 String Guitar & Bongos
• Andy Hellaby – Bass
• Jon Seagroatt – Flute & Percussion 
• Colin Pearson -Violin & Viola

Links

MySpace * Facebook * Site