Ahead of the release of their first album Phantom Bay which will be out April 22nd, the band shares “Trembling World”.
“Trembling World” is a song about grappling with current world events, watching the world as it declines, and feeling helpless about it. Writing the song was tough, as it combines political themes with personal anecdotes, which we find is a balancing act, if you want to make it sound earnest and authentic.” – ¨Phantom Bay
About the band
(For fans of: Drug Church, Title Fight, Touche Amore, Betrayed)
Bremen-based band Phantom Bay pairs hardcore punk with melodic hooks. Formed in spring 2020 by Michael Hanser (vocals, guitar), Laurin Rutgers (bass), and Yannic Arens (drums), the band is set to release their debut self-titled LP in early 2022 via Krod Records. Members of Phantom Bay were previously active in New Native, the Deadnotes, and Casually Dressed.
I am so happy when I discover new bands that I like and learn to love their music, the same as I was back in the days of tape trading and waiting for weeks for your new music to arrive via snail mail and sometimes discovering your new favorites through such tapes. Now, it is easier, especially when you run a webzine for seventh year now, but the principle is still the same, scratch beneath the surface of underground and find what you like yourself and learn everyday new stuff in our beloved extreme music scene. So, I am so happy that I discovered LA´s Dawn of Ashes. But I am at the same time a little bit ashamed. Why? Because I found out late about them and they have been in the scene for more than twenty years now, delivering their punches and this is their ninth full length opus. This one contains 12 songs, some being intro and intermezzos between the maelstorm of Hellish sadomasochistic rites, darkened atmosphere, Satanic rituals, sex, death, life all of three being interlinked in one undividable whole of us as puny humans on this planet.
Dawn of Ashes play a mixture of industrial ebm metal, with symphonic black metal parts here and there, some gothic metal songwriting thrown in and whole lot of atmospheric darkness. I always respect and love the use of samples and Dawn of Ashes use samples so clever and so fantastic that it made goosebumps on my skin while listening to this opus. Electronic is great in adaptation with guitar parts, thundering drums, keyboards and superb vocals. The latter are special and it is so amazing to hear singer Kristof Bathory changing his voice from black metal croaking to screaming, back to gothic spoken word, some singing and altering back to industrial almost robotic voice. If I must compare this band to some it would be Kovenant from Norway in Animatronic period, but Dawn of Ashes sound richer and superb, also it would be a more upgraded black metal version of Combichrist. My personal favorites are Bane of Your Existence, Heart Beats Cold and Scars of the Broken. My recommendation for you, check this one out!
San Francisco has always been fertile ground for metal and many great bands come from the Bay Area and around this glorious city. Nite are relatively new band in the scene, formed in 2018 but the members of this entity are in no way new or fresh in the scene having played in many bands and projects. This is Nite´s second full length opus and it contains eight songs. The music of Nite is melodic heavy metal but done with blackened style. That means many melodic hooks and solos, anthemic guitar riffs and catchy songs, but vocals are way different giving the whole darkened atmosphere. Guitarist/vocalist Van Labrakis sings, well it is not really singing but a mixture of growling, whispering and almost spoken voice in some parts, giving special, almost Lovecraftian atmosphere to this opus, although it is a nod to all old school NWOBHM masters through metal´s vast history. My personal favorites are Acheron, Kronian Moon and Heliopolis. Lyrics deal with more sinister and fantasy themes this creating a mixture of beauty with melodies and unrest and dread with horror atmosphere. I am glad I discovered this band.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 