Into Armageddon's Maw: An Interview & Exclusive Streaming Song from Fury 161

If you keep up with my blog as regularly as I do, you probably recall the streaming single "Purify" by Fury 161 which I shared a few months ago. As pre-orders for their impending full-length album, "Armageddons Maw," have gone live, I feel it's a good time to share a BM&B exclusive interview and streaming song. For those not yet familiar with this project, "Armageddons Maw" is a death industrial album that (depending on your standpoint) either takes the genre's typical sounds and pushes them outward in every direction, or it stands defiantly against the genre just as much as it embraces it. With synthesized melodies washing up against scathing electronic walls and frenzied vocals raging against the very things that society holds dear, this album is one hell of a ride. Whether you're interested in power electronics and death industrial, or if you're just a regular reader checking out a new feature, it's hard for me to recommend this album highly enough. I've had access to the files for a couple months now and I'm simply chomping at the bit waiting for the official release. Without wasting more of your time on my rambling, here is a brief transcript of my chat with the two madmen of Fury 161, followed by an exclusive stream of their track "Spirits" for your enjoyment.

BM&B: Okay, welcome and thanks for your time. State your names and duties, if you will.

Corvus Rex: Corvus Rex. Vocals, Treatments, Guitars, Keys, Mixing and mastering.

Xerxees Bane: Xerxees Bane. Sounds, samples, beats, art.

BM&B: Okay gentlemen, since this is a review for a website specializing in music and beer, do you drink? If so, any preferred or recommended beverages?

CR: I drink very little, and sadly no beer. I drink liquor. I would recommend South African cider though. I always have some when I go home.

XB: I am not adverse to the odd drink now and again.My choice of poison is lager. No real lager I'd particularly recommend as there are many to choose from and their effects can be similarly varies. However, I was fond of peach schnapps many moons ago.

BM&B: That does the job just fine. So, how did the two of you first meet and decide to form a musical union in the form of Fury 161?

CR: Xerxees, you answer this one.

XB: Okay, here it goes. The modern miracle of the internet played its part in the formation of Fury 161. Corvus initially posted a Project:Void track on the webpage of a favourite artist (Theologian). I liked what Corvus had posted, and we initially became friends because of that. I was also doing music prior to Fury, under the name Pigrat. Pigrat was influenced by gabba, breakcore, and tribal beats. I sent some of those tracks to Corvus and he saw potential in them...

BM&B: And the rest is history?

XB: Sorta...I've taken some of the elements from Pigrat and mutated the ideas in Fury.

CR: I asked Xerxees to send me a breakdown of one of his tracks, which he did, and I treated, remixed, and remastered it.

XB: Yes, and it sounded suitably rusty, gnarled, crushing...

CR: That was the track that became the instrumental "Black Heart Attack." From there, we discussed joining up as a unit.

BM&B: That song is actually one of my favorites on the album. It stands out as a unique, yet appropriate centerpiece.

CR: It fuses many elements. It also brings a bit of light to the darkness

XB: Yeah, you could go the route of just crushing sounds. However, as Corvus said, a little bit of light makes the darkness that little bit darker.

BM&B: So as an official unit, is there a set songwriting process for Fury 161, or does each song come about in a different way?

CR: There are various ways they come about. Xerxees is always working on music, as am I. When the moment is right, we will then swap these sounds with each other and they will either be accepted by both of us or rejected.

XB: For my part, I don't have any real approach to writing the songs. I have found that if I have a pre-set idea, it never pans out as how I imagined it in my head. I will sift through sounds to find ones that I may find interesting and then will see what comes of them. Some songs are written in a few weeks, and some are years old. One, in fact, dates back to around 2007.

CR: If you think of it, a good song should be timeless.

XB: Agreed, and you know you've done a good song when you can listen to it for your own pleasure and you find nothing about it that you'd change.

BM&B: That makes perfect sense. Knowing that you are both musicians with musical endeavors prior to this, what music has inspired each of you as a whole? What specific music inspired this project?

CR: Each of my bands draws from different influences. Project:Void's harsh power electronics draw influences from sources such as Whitehouse, Sutcliffe Jugend, and Wolf Eyes. Black Crow King is an exploration of how deep doom can go, and draws inspiration from doom, goth, and power electronics. I'm also in a death industrial band called N.D.E.

XB: Personal influences? Napalm Death, Godflesh, Slab, Converter, Test Dept, Adam and the Ants, E-Noid, Rotator...

CR: I think with Fury we never really set out to create a particular sound, it just kinda developed.

XB: Yeah, evolution in progress.

CR: We never said "let's create a death industrial band." We just said "let's join up and see what happens," and brought our combined influences to it. The vocal approach I use has more akin with extreme metal or power electronics. I hope that somewhat explains it.

BM&B: Of course. With your rather unique sets of inspiration and approach in mind, do you feel there are any current artists with whom you share a common bond or a sort of musical kinship?

CR: There are a few bands that share some of the same elements with us, such as Deadwood or Steel Hook Prostheses or other death industrial bands, but we have not really made a bond. I think it is safe to say if the listener is into death industrial, power electronics, or extreme electronic music of any form, then they will hear something they like in Fury.

XB: Ramblack is good too. Hopefully we stand out because we use sounds that the listener may not "expect."

CR: In fact, you may have seen a recent update on our facebook page. We're planning a split with Steel Hook Prostheses.

BM&B: I did see it. I'm quite excited for more details. Musical inspiration aside, what other sources of inspiration do each of you draw upon when creating your music as Fury 161? Whether it's art, nature, politics, etc. Would you like to share what gets your creative juices flowing?

CR: This is very personal for me. Nature, or rather what we are doing to nature, is a huge problem for me, as are politics, mental issues, and my loathing for humanity at large. My music, lyrics, and vocals are a purge for me.

XB: For me, the techniques of John Heartfield play a big inspiration, ie. photomontage, and taking things from their original context and mutating them to our own ends. Film plays a part...a certain Alien film especially.

CR: Ha ha, can't forget Alien.

XB: Nope, and it's a David Fincher film.

BM&B: So two very different sets of inspiration come together. I like that. Corvus, would you say that as the lyricist, you consider Fury 161 to be a project that is driven by its message, or simply a project that has a lot to say, with music first and message secondary?

CR: I would say it is a project that is driven by the music and has a lot to say as well. Xerxees is just as important as I am. On occasion he also comes up with lyrics. For example, the song "Purify" that was released as a free download had lyrics written by both of us.

XB: I find that when I occasionally attempt lyrics they are not quite my forte, so I leave it to he who does it well.

BM&B: So do you feel that even the moments without lyrics and vocals have their meaning for the dedicated listener?

CR: The opening track "Thanatos" is an instrumental, but it helps set the tone for what is to come.

BM&B: Similar to "Black Heart Attack" then, although each song stands on its own as well, not really needing the greater context.

CR: It flows as an album, but each song has its own story to tell or mood to create.

BM&B: I was actually going to ask about the flow of the album. For an album that works so smoothly, there's a lot of musical territory covered on "Armageddons Maw." How did you manage to compile such contrasting sounds without killing the album's continuity?

XB: Thanks, this is the first album I've ever worked on. It has cohesion, rather than being a set of disjointed pieces. When it comes to writing songs, I sometimes get contrasting sounds that jump into my head, taking a song elsewhere--which I like. For me, it has to be something I'd wanna hear. Dark, but not derivative. Light, but not in a happy, skippy way. The light enlightens the dark! Yin yang. Or Abraxas, if ye prefer.

CR: I think when we decided on songs, they were ones that we knew would work together. The next job was to decide the order. For this, I came up with a list of an order, then Xerxees and I decided on it together and laid the track listing for the album down.

BM&B: That was probably a lot harder than you're making it sound.

CR: No, not really. We have a strange connection when it comes to Fury 161. Nothing seems to be much of a struggly, everything flows. There are no egos in the band, which is a great help.

BM&B: You two do seem to get along quite well. I'm sure that makes things run smoothly.

CR: That it does.

XB: It does, and one day we'll actually meet!

CR: I hate egomaniacs. They are a menace to the world.

BM&B: Fair enough. How has it been working with Canadian label Bugs Crawling Out of People? They seem to have their ducks in a row, so to speak.

CR: It has been pretty easy to work with them. He is interested in the band and what we are doing. He's committed to putting out a quality product and everything is run past us first.

XB: I can't fault them at all. I was aware of them a year or so ago via the releases they had of compUterus and I think...was a release of Pneumatic Detach.

CR: For example, before going to print he sent us a printed mock-up of the digipak to see if we were happy with it.

XB: It was a great feeling to receive a mock-up that has artwork that I spent ages drawing by hand on an actual release.

BM&B: I'm glad to hear you've found a label that treats you with the respect you deserve. Revisiting your comment about actually meeting up, do you think you'll ever try to practice for Fury 161 to become a live act or would you rather keep your music in the studio?

CR: Fury 161 will never be a live act. I have too many issues with people.

XB: I think playing live, even if it was Corvus and myself, just to ourselves, couldbe interesting if not a little tricky. I'm unsure how to go about creating it live.

CR: It would be a bit of a problem creating it live.

BM&B: That makes sense. I think it holds up well enough as a studio project regardless. I have a question about the artwork related to Fury 161. Perhaps this is for Xerxees, although you are both free to answer. I noticed a lot of mirroring in the art for both "Purify" and "Armageddons Maw," as well as your shirt design. Is symmetry symbolic in a way or was this merely an aesthetic decision?

XB: I'm not sure that symmetry does play a conscious part in the art. Again, I will just try out different ideas and see what works or doesn't. However, there is meaning to the artwork. The double headed bird at the bottom of the lower point of the chaos star is meant, or could be suggested as being both Corvus and myself, in that we are musically not looking in exactly the same direction, but the two heads come together in the same body. Fury 161 is the body.

At the teeth, I thought that not only do people get angry, but animals also. Francis Bacon amde me aware of this with some of his screaming mouth paintings.

BM&B: Interesting, I had been wondering if the teeth were something of a nod to Swans.

CR: I love Swans

XB: Yes, I find there is something quite powerful about that image. First time I heard Swans, I couldn't get my head around them at all. It was a million miles away from what I was used to.

CR: Haha, all hail Swans. Brilliant live as well.

BM&B: I understand that. Many of their recordings are older than I am and are still heavier than anything new bands are doing. That's about it for the questions. Thank you guys so much for your time.

An Interview with Neal of Tollund Men

For the unfamiliar, Tollund Men is an entity that is hard to describe. Terms like minimal synth, post-punk,and darkwave get thrown around, but they really do no justice to the sounds that Tollund Men create. Mixing the fuzzed out bliss more commonly associated with black metal with the synth density and catchy hooks of new wave's darker acts, Tollund Men is a unique and fascinating project that appeals to pretty much everything I love in music. I recently had the opportunity to ask primary creative member Neal a few questions about Tollund Men's fantastic new cassette, his plans for the year to come, and the real story behind the band's name.

BMAB: Does the name of the band come from a personal anthropological interest in the Tollund Man? What was the catalyst for creating Tollund Men?
Neal: The Tollund Men moniker has caused some confusion. Because the project exists on the periphery of certain punk and metal scenes, I've had people assume that I got the name from the "Bog Bodies" series of cassettes primitive USBM duo Bone Awl released during the early-to-mid oughts. While I really love Bone Awl, getting to see them at a dive bar here in Denver around 2009, playing to an almost non-existent crowd and a smattering of irritated regular patrons, the truth is probably far less interesting. I was pursuing an English degree at the time. I was in a pretty standard (if not boring) British Literature course, when I discovered the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who, not surprisingly, wrote a poem called "The Tollund Man." Heaney's message is socio-political in the end, but there are several themes that really speak to me--the depressing aspects to freedom, ritual meeting life and causing conflict, concepts of transgression and punishment, the past and present meeting in abstract ways. As for the "Men" instead of "Man," I just thought it was funny because I was the only one in the band. But mostly, it's just a name I picked for some shit I had been working on. 

What have been your primary influences as a musician and artist? Are these influences displayed in the upcoming album of covers and the previous covers you’ve already done, or do you try to pick things that would fall slightly outside of your typical style?
Influence is a very tenuous thing in music, especially now. I don't want to be viewed as a band that sounds like it's from the 80s, it just happens that a lot of the music that I like was made in the 80s! But that's one of the reasons I wanted to do this covers album. I wanted people to have a reference point and be able to see how Tollund Men is something new. I wanted to cover bands that listeners could make connections they normally wouldn't, who were maybe viewing it as some kind of darkwave/minimal band or whatever. Maybe it was set into peoples' minds with that first cover of "Goodbye Horses." Either way, I hope that people will hear our cover of a This Kind of Punishment song, or Halo of Flies, or Cybotron, or whatever, and be able to hear how the influences come out in different ways, that it's not just trying to sound like this band or that or this genre or that. I want to create something unique and forward thinking.

Your newest cassette is entitled Virbius Abstract. Is there a particular significance to this name? With the new release and your album of covers coming out soon, do you have tour plans in mind?
Virbius is a Roman forest god. His story is somewhat mixed with the Greek god Hippolytus, but the gist of it is: Virbius rejects the sexual advances of his stepmother, Phaedra. This makes her furious, so she tells his father, Theseus, that he raped her. Theseus spurns him by sending a wild bull to scare the horses of his chariot, dragging Virbius to his death. Each of the songs on the tape are loosely tied into this theme, making it an "Abstract." 
We are planning another small tour to the west coast this summer, probably only a week or two. We're just too fucking poor and nobody really gives a shit. 

What current artists have impressed you the most with their creative output lately?
There is kind of a running joke about how much Kevin and I like Crazy Spirit. But yeah, they're pretty cool. We've never even seen them. When we went on tour last summer, we taped a piece of paper to the front of the keyboard that said "Crazy Spirit Rules." Maybe it was with a "z." Anyway, it was sort of an inside joke. There's this video of the really amazing band Factrix, and on their keyboard is a sticker that says "Flipper Rules." We were thinking we should pay homage to a band like that. It's pretty absurd that we'd be the Factrix and Crazy Spirit would be Flipper in that scenario; it's funny. But we're both into a bunch of stuff. Right now, newer stuff I'm into is like Cut Hands, Circle of Ouroborus, Dominic Fernow stuff, Stare Case, I don't know, just all the cool shit. 

If you had your way, what would the coming year look like for Tollund Men? More albums? Tours? Peace and quiet from nosy writers like myself?

I'm trying to release about eight more things in the coming year or two and compile the singles onto one LP, and hopefully another full length shortly thereafter. We'll see. If anyone wants to hook us up with tour money we'd take it. Thanks to everyone who has supported this project. 

Then and Now: An Interview with a death cinematic

This post was originally intended to be part of my summary of the year 2012, but the more I think about it, the less that would have made sense to me. It's oddly appropriate that my first interview here is with prolific drone artist a death cinematic, as this project has been important to me ever since I began delving into the deeper reaches of the music community. Forgive me if this post gets a bit personal, but the context is quite important for me.

In 2007, I was just learning about extreme music and had started a musical project with a trusted friend. He recorded all the music and I screamed at the top of my lungs about nature and depression. I remember the music fondly, but the contacts my bandmate made on our collective behalf are particularly memorable. One of the earliest musicians he discovered and contacted was a death cinematic, which was a brand new project at the time. One day I showed up to record a song and my friend handed me a copy of Epochs Shifting Out of Time. The album quickly became mandatory listening and was in heavy rotation for much of 2007 and 2008. I was going through a period of anxiety, self-discovery, and overall turmoil. The bleak yet soothing soundscapes provided me with a sense of familiarity and comfort.

Fast forward to late 2012. Shortly after I established Black Metal and Brews, I found myself in touch with the artist behind a death cinematic for the first time. While I still had the album in my possession, I'd been heavily removed from current output from most artists, and was surprised that the project had grown into something larger and more proficient. As I hadn't heard any of the albums recorded since Epochs Shifting Out of Time, we decided it would be ideal for me to review a death cinematic's latest offering, The New World and compare it alongside Epochs, which I'll pair with an interview with the artist himself. Thanks for reading this rambling introduction, and I hope you enjoy this massive post as much as I've enjoyed creating it.

In addition to having the opportunity to interview a death cinematic/simple box construction today, I’m going to review both a death cinematic’s earliest offering and most recent. Released in 2007, Epochs Shifting Out of Time (which is available for free download), is a hazy, distorted journey through a world that is undergoing the violent yet beautiful process of coming into existence. The song titles touch upon everything from the shifting of tectonic plates to certain species’ experiences as the planet grows and changes. In many ways, the music’s subtle sense of turbulence lends itself perfectly to the turmoil of a world in its infancy. This is all too fitting for an early release from a project whose latest release is an album appropriately titled The New World. While the initial release from a death cinematic is certainly not a work I’d describe as amateur, it’s interesting to see how the art and musical direction has evolved while remaining entirely recognizable as the same artistic mind.

Almost as a direct continuation of Epochs, The New World starts with crackling and frantic guitar that fades in and out of the listener’s awareness, resembling some sort of transmission being broadcast into space. While there’s still a degree of droning ambiance here, the guitars are strummed and create distinctive notes rather than textures and moods. It’s somewhat akin to Earth’s more recent output, with a shimmering beauty that cuts through the overall darkness of the music’s direction. Accompanying The New World is a collection of photographs in a small bound book entitled "A Prelude to The New World." As the title suggests, the photographs contained within detail a bleak, hazy landscape. It's no stretch to say that the marriage of sound and vision here is a documentation of a death cinematic reaching the artistic ambitions made apparent on his earliest of works. While the title and photograph accompanying the first CD from a death cinematic are certainly in the same vein, it's fantastic to see a fully fleshed version of this unique vision.

I had the opportunity to interview a death cinematic himself both about these two albums and his overall artistic process. The interview follows for your information and enjoyment:

Black Metal And Brews: 
a death cinematic has always created very visual music, beginning with the evocative song titles on the very first release, and now including the extensive photography collection included with The New World. How did the hybridization of the two come to mind for you?

A Death Cinematic: 
I guess there was never a question of separation. The two were always entwined for me, so it really became a question of bringing them together in a meaningful and aesthetic way as the projects grew. The visual aspect has always been very important to me and simple box and a death cinematic is an ongoing work in progress. I now consider any artwork, whether it is writing, photography, music, or drawing to be a part and a continuation of this.

BMAB: 
Is there a unifying theme to your albums as a death cinematic? Is there a message you’re hoping to convey with a death cinematic’s artistic output?

ADC: 
I think there is a unifying theme. To me it is a journey and each release is the next logical step along that journey. It all goes together. I am not as concerned with conveying a specific message with a death cinematic as I am in building a context for a listener to construct their own message. The work I do has specific meanings for me but I am not concerned that a listener or viewer know what those are for me. I want it to mean something to them on their own personal terms. If I was to say that this album is specifically about x, y, and z and nothing else, it constricts and pigeon holes the work, limiting the experience for the listener. At this time I want to make fertile ground for a willing participant to grow their own meaning.

BMAB: 
How has your personal growth as a person and musician changed a death cinematic’s direction? Has it changed the direction?

ADC: 
I am not so sure the direction is changed but I think my personal growth has furthered and moved a death cinematic farther. I work on becoming a better musician/ noise maker and artist and with that this project grows and gets better. At times it feels like there is no movement at all or that it is glacial at best. Those times are the worst, I imagine, for any artist. The times of misperceived stagnation. As I grow and progress with these projects, I get better at editing the work. I also get more efficient with my decisions as how to get to a theme and what materials to use.

BMAB: 
You collaborated with Matt Finney on your most recent release. How did that come about?

ADC: 
That was his idea and offering and it was a long time in the making. He suggested we do something back in 2010. He sent me a track of him reading the new world and I recorded the music and sound to it. It was meant to be a download only single but as I was working on that track the concept for the whole album crystallized for me. It just came in a flash and was so complete that I even had the basic concept for the packaging. I then asked him if I could make this album around our track. He was into it and very gracious and patient. It took me a long while to realize the release in its final 150 hand made copies.

BMAB: 
What inspired you to establish simple box construction rather than signing off your releases to some other label who can do all the physical production of the album for you? What drives you to craft and oversee every aspect of a death cinematic’s artistic image?

ADC: 
I have been a visual artist or interested in being one for as long as I can remember. simple box originally was going to be a small press for handbound books and limited edition print runs. When I started to get into making music, I looked into finding labels but as I was developing the concepts for the releases, it became clear to me that I should be doing this on my own. So simple box construction was revived and started to be this label of sorts. 

The drive to do everything for a death cinematic is that even though I want the audience to build their own meanings and experiences, I want them to do it in a specified context. That context [is something] I have to construct and be as meticulous as possible about building. It could also be the early signs of madness and OCD, to try to control every aspect and build every copy as if it was a singular piece of art. At times it sure feels that way. I enjoy making the work and it becomes a vehicle to express myself in various mediums at once. Plus, doing it this way I have to answer only to myself and the failure or success of any release is my responsibility.

However, there have been and will continue to be a death cinematic releases on other labels. A lot of the labels that I have worked with allowed me to design and fabricate the packaging for the the releases. On some of the splits, the other artist designed them and the label had them made. It all comes down to what everyone is comfortable with. I found that most of the time everyone is pretty accommodating and respectful of each other's concerns. The new full-length on cassette is being released on tycho magnetic anomalies. They're a great little cassette label who asked me to do a tape release for them. They were very accommodating to my aesthetic concerns and gave me control over the design and fabrication of the whole edition. This was great because I had specific ideas for the album and could work on cassette packaging which I have not done before. So it feels like this album is made on terms that are very agreeable to me. As I talk to other labels who are interested in my work I always ask them to allow me the control of over the design and fabrication of the edition. Even though I have some projects slated on other labels this year, for the most part I still plan on the majority of the albums to be self-released.