Interview: Nattskog (Razör Förge, Garden of Eyes)

One of the busiest dudes in heavy metal Nattskog has been in my feed for some time, entertaining me and many others via his astounding output rate. Through his various music projects, reviews, zines and youtube videos he has been a sort of personal icon to me with his constant prolific work and metal mania. So luckily enough I managed to stag an online interview with him as he made his way to UK Deathfest.

This is what he had to say:

So to kick this off and for my audience, who the hell are you and what do you do with your life?

Hey man! I’m Jørgen (or Nattskog), I’m a Heavy Metal maniac. I blast records, make records, and review records of the metallic stuff! Die for Metal, bang or be dead!

Starting off with a quick and easy icebreaker: Which one of the Big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax) bands did you get into first and how would you say they influence you today?

Slayer, they remain by far my favourite and their first 3 albums should be in any record collection. “Show No Mercy” is one of the best Metal albums of all time, I play it regularly still and always shall. It influences me to keep riffs evil!

Can you tell my readers a bit about Razör Förge and its History?

Razör Förge was formed to place an offering to the godz of steel! I wanted to create some 7-inch splits of pure Heavy Metal (with a healthy dose of Speed, Thrash and first wave Black Metal too). Inspired by early US Power Metal, NWOBHM, proto-Black Metal as well as early Thrash and Speed Metal too. It is played with blood, sweat and mercury, the only way Heavy Metal should be.

Do your reviews and opinions influence/inform the type of music you create?

Absolutely, the amount of bands I discover weekly from reviewing never ceases to inspire me. Some of my favourite bands of all time I discovered this way (Deathhammer and Witching Hour being 2 that spring to mind).

I see you’ve recently put to bed a lot of your other projects (Blasphemous Degradation, Graven Crypt Tower, Hexivoid, Sykelig Englen, Etc.) except Garden of Eyes and you tell me what was behind that decision?

Basically I just wanted to focus on Razör Förge, Garden Of Eyes and then my fanzine and webzine, plus YouTube and still have time to just blast records and go to tons of shows. I have been a musician for a long time, but a fan even longer and that’ll always come first (hence going to more shows than I play, buying more records than I make etc). All of my projects are a part of me, and always will be. But I have to focus on what I need to do and what I’m inspired to do.

What Closed project of yours is most likely to be resurrected?

Hexivoid, I am almost certain it will come back. But I never write for Hexivoid. It is pure cosmic chaos that I record as and when I become possessed to do so. Thusly it’s never certain, but I feel myself and the celestial ones have unfinished business…

With all of your bands being one-man projects, would you say you are easy/difficult to work with?

I have played in bands, but I prefer to be able to wholly execute my creative will. This and geographical isolation are the main factors. I’d like to play live more but I will never do so until I can commit to making it everything it deserves to be. As for difficulty, I am probably very intense and active but you’d have to ask prior bandmates that! I think my passion and dedication speaks for itself, but I’d also never shoot down a good idea from another person either. Most of my friends are musicians or dedicated Metal maniacs who offer invaluable advice to me as a musician and writer, without that I’d never grow. I do, however, find most people difficult to work with. Either many cannot match my sheer insanity or we just don’t click. But it’s immaterial, I am happy doing things solo.

Are there any plans for you ever to form a live act?

I have played live over the years, just sparingly. As I mentioned in the last question, I would rather play no show than a half-assed one. Garden Of Eyes is likely going to be a live unit, but there have been hold-ups both on that front and also with the next recording, so I have no insights to give sadly. Just be aware that when I play live, it will be sheer savagery or not happen at all.

You seem to have a lot on at once, how do you manage your time? And how can I be as productive?

Sheer mania. This is what being possessed, obsessed and running on sheer Heavy Metal does to a person! I do all this because I need to, it is essential to me, thus I don’t have much choice. I am incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do, and that also motivates me. As if you snooze, you lose! As for how others can be, just harness all of the passion you have and if anything stands in your way, destroy it. Risks must be taken, but I firmly believe it is the things we don’t do (or at least try) that cause regret.

What is next for you and your projects?

Razör Förge just put out the 7-inch split with our Greek brothers Chaoshorde on Vicious Witch Records. The next release is being recorded and will most likely be a split 7-inch also, though the other band is yet to be finalised. Additionally it will have a far better production, as the first was recorded by myself and only roughly “mixed” in a demo sense. Garden Of Eyes is recording the next 7-inch to follow up “Boomhammer”, but due to drummer-related complications it may be a while away. Otherwise, I’ll be checking out underground stuff, hammering out music and trying to spread the flame of Heavy Metal in any way I can!

Bonus Question: What album would you like to see me review next?

I’d definitely suggest giving the new albums of the following a shot: Deathhammer, Sacrifizer, Sedimentum, Morgul Blade, Herzel and Midnight!

I will get on those asap.

There you have it. Look forward to hearing more from Nattskog and Razör Förge as I review his debut split with Chaoshorde. Thanks also to Vicious Witch Records for helping me set this up.

Interview: “Rad Ray” Terrell (MX The American)

Quite a while back I did a one-off interview experiment with a top bloke, Tommy Concrete, (Check it here) which was really fun, but I didn’t think it was worth doing more, with my tiny audience. However, when you get a random contact from America from a band you’ve never heard of, with a striking look and sound, I couldn’t say “no”.

I will get straight to the point and let you all read how it went, and hopefully, you’ll discover something truly different.

So to kick this off and for my audience, who the hell are you and what do you do with your life?

I’m Rad Ray Terrell lead vocalist for MX The America and I do music 100% of the time

Starting off with a quick and easy icebreaker: Which one of the Big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax) band did you get into first and how would you say they influence you today?

Each band came to me around the same time (probably ’83 or ’84) and we opened for Megadeth I think ’86, and Slayer around ’87, Both bands were super good and I still remember it like it was yesterday. We also played with Anthrax and Megadeth September 9th 2021 at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Danville, Virginia and they were both even better!

So not much an influence as you pre-date them? Did you think they learned anything from you or vice-versa?

No I’m sure I pick up a lot from every band I listen to. And I definitely listen to all 4 of the big 4. Staying power and longevity is definitely something We share.

Can you tell my readers a bit about your band and its History?

We formed in Macon, Georgia in 1982 under the name MX. In 1986 we moved to Atlanta, Georgia and released our 1st album called “Made In The USA”. In 1988 we released our 2nd album titled “Burn” We released our 3 album “Goeth For What Thou Knoweth” in 1992. Our 4th album in 1994 “Into The Depths”. Our 5th release in 1996 was a unplugged album called “Contagious”. 1998 we released “The Lazarus Phenomenon” which was a change up. It is more towards the industrial style. We went back in the studio in 2000/2001 and recorded “Gone Snipe Hunting” which was our working title name.
Toured around a lot then until around ’06 and took a much needed hiatus for a few years. Mainly due to my son Kristopher Von Terrell getting killed in a car wreck and it screwed my mind up and made it hard to play or even concentrate. In 2018 we reformed under the name: MX The American and released our self titled album (flag face on the cover) followed up by “Ten Thousand Elephants” in 2020.
We released our latest album this year on July 4th “Appalachia Voodoo Factory” and started touring again following the release at the Metal in the Mountains and Blue Ridge Rock Festival. We currently have just released our 3rd video off that album called “Enemy”. Also a part of us are military veterans and we support depression awareness and suicide prevention.

I’m very sorry to hear about your boy, and I hope you are in a better place now. Is there a page I can post here for your charity work?

Things are going pretty good. I’ve got a huge support team here and our fans are dedicated and loyal. I appreciate your concern.
http://www.mxtheamericanepk.com
This is the best link to post along with our fb link. They are being updated currently with support links

I see that you have had a long career so far, what do you think has kept you going for so long?

I will go as long as I can. Just being a writing musician keeps me constant at playing even when we weren’t out playing I always have kept a paper and pencil and or computer around to document any inspiration I can.

The unusual name your band has, can you talk about why the funny name?

The name MX is binary/military and we are all American, a part of us being ex-Military this is how we came up with the name, which also separates us from any one else using the name MX and it distinguishes what country we are from.

I’m aware of the Brazilian MX, have you had any contact with other “MX” bands?

We know who they are . We have come across other bands using the name MX. We can show 1st use of the name but this is part of the reason we added “The American” to the name, this way there is no mistaking who we are.

From listening to your early material and comparing it with your current stuff, I hear you have changed your style and is a lot more experimental what made you make the change?

We try not to get labeled in just 1 genre or style. We write what we feel and try to express each album a little different. We like showing versatility. Each member has a ton of experience and we like to show our creativity. We don’t sweat trying to sound exactly like all the current bands coming out. We know we sound different, we get told that all the time. The last 2 or 3 years we’ve actually been getting so much great response that its overwhelming at times. We’re just glad to be a part of the music industry, making fans happy in today’s world.
2022 is going to be great! Along with working on a new album and videos we are going to be setting up a nice tour to support it! We have lots of shows currently set and more we are filling in.

The band seem to take a lot of influence from outside of metal, how do you feel this has helped you?

Metal has a wide spectrum. There are tons on genres. We just don’t want to be stuck in one style, and to grow I feel, you need to experiment and incorporate styles that helped you get to where you are in life. Even though a true metalhead listens mainly to metal he or she more that likely listens or has listened to other styles. We are no different and I like incorporating some of that within my writing. We have a lot of fans and industry people that really like us for that. We are not afraid to be a little different.

Is there any style of music that you would not incorporate?

There may be but I haven’t encountered that style yet

How important to you is the visual aspect of your band?

Very important. We do a lot of visual things in our live show and such as costumes and or masks. Sometimes with these aspects and sometimes not as much. We do throw ourselves into the songs headfirst when we’re preforming though.

It’s an unusually large line-up for a band, with having 7 members, does that not get very cramped when you are on stage? And how do they all contribute to the songwriting and in the live show?

Most of the stages we’ve been playing have had plenty of room for us. There are 3 singers and we are on the front line. Sometimes, yes it does get kinda cramped but try to take that in consideration when we’re being booked in each club and or festival.
I have done the majority of the writing over the years along with Melvin especially on the last 3 albums. Now Ray Godman our guitarist is putting a lot more into the initial song structure with Melvin and Myself then once we have the basic structure up and running all the other 4 put their spin on things as they record their parts. It seems to be working good.

When you have been playing live and up on stage, what do most and least like to see from the crowd?

We would hate to see people being violent and causing ruckus during the show: not to mistake that for moshing. We do love it when the crowd is singing along and or moshing to our songs, we love it when being called back out for encores.

We all seem to be waiting on the “next big thing” to hit metal. Are you going to be it? And what are your thoughts on the future of metal?

We feel that we are right in the middle of it. The next big thing is a band that works their butts off and don’t give up. While smiling and keeping a good attitude no matter what. Along with constantly being fan friendly and real.
Off the subject: my original surname I was born with is Pope which is originally from Scotland. I understand Scottish people in general are a driven type people, maybe that’s where I get most of my drive from.
Metal will always be Huge!

I couldn’t agree more. This has been an awesome chat that I’m sure my readers will get a kick out of it. As the final question to wrap up: Whats Is next for you and the band?

We are currently writing on our next album that will be coming out next year. We are working on a couple of new videos at the moment and we are booking shows for a tour to start late spring/ early summer 2022
Our last 3 videos from our latest release has been getting great responses.
“COMING HOME” – 310K views
“THE MOUNTAIN” – 250K views
and “ENEMY” which came out 2 weeks ago already at 50k views.

Bonus Question: What album would you like to see me review next?

Dying Oath from Wytheville, Virginia

I will get on to that!

Well, that was a blast, and very honest and entertaining. See below for where to hear and see more of MX the American:

https://www.facebook.com/mxtheamericanband/

https://www.mxtheamericanepk.com/

Interview: Tommy Concrete (Tommy Concrete and The Werewolves, Ex-The Exploited)

As a part of my growth in doing this blog, I feel like it is time to branch out and do something new and give a short online interview to someone in the local metal scene. Today’s victim is Tommy Concrete a top bloke with an impressive career and talent for metal, but I’ll let him do the talking:

So to kick this off and for my audience (hello mum), who the hell are you and what do you do with your life?

I’m Tommy Concrete, a musician and author. I am a solo artist who makes progressive and sometimes avant-garde metal. I also play in Tommy Concrete and the Werewolves, who are influenced by Motorhead & Nuclear Assault. I have been playing in various bands for the last 30 or so years and like to think of myself as a ‘lifer’. Across all the bands I have been in I have been involved in over 60 albums across multiple heavy / progressive genres. I was in infamous Scottish punk band The Exploited for a while which I was lucky enough to play around the world. I have one book out ‘The Wages of Metal’ and it’s follow up ‘Brollachans’ which is about a werewolf apocalypse should be out next year.

Starting off with a quick and easy icebreaker: Which one of the Big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax) band did you get into first and how would you say they influence you today?

I got into Metallica first. I heard the “Garage Days Revisited EP” and was blown out of the water by it. Back then I was a punk and not into metal, but was really impressed by James & Kirk‘s GBH and Discharge shirts so I thought I should give it a listen. I don’t really listen to them now, but they were such an early and important influence to me, there is a bit of Metallica in virtually every note I play and every word I sing. It’s in the DNA.

I see that you are currently working on a follow up to “Unrelaxed”, how is the new one different? And why should we care?

“Unrelaxed” was meant to try and show off every style I have done in my solo work. So there is thrash, death, black, stoner, prog etc etc. It’s a total mix of genres and styles and some of it is pretty mental. Saying that, “Unrelaxed” is also a pretty focused album in the sense that all the songs are regular lengths and have a verse chorus verse type arrangement. “Unrelaxed 2” is a mix of doom, prog and epic black metal with most of the songs around the ten minute mark. All the singing is clean on “Unrelaxed 2”, including one song where me and Laura from King Witch duet, which is something we have talked about doing for nearly ten years now. If you liked “Unrelaxed” you should care because “Unrelaxed 2” was also produced by Bryan Ramage [Ramage Inc.], so it sounds just as epic. If you didn’t like “Unrelaxed” you should care because “Unrelaxed 2” is very different musically.

You have played a few different styles over your career and genre hopped, is there a reason for this?

The short answer is because I can. I don’t understand why other people don’t to be honest. For me, one of the classic all time albums is Led Zeppelin “Physical Graffiti” which is a barrage of genres, as is another of my most important influences Celtic Frost “Into The Pandemonium”. As well, I love bands like Killing Joke & Ulver who do what they like and are constantly changing. I have tried to do bands that stick to one genre, but creativity and ideas get in the way and shit just starts getting wider in scope. personally I tend to focus more on atmosphere and emotional content rather than genre, in that sense nearly all of my stuff has been similar.

You seem to have been in and out a lot of different bands and projects over the years, would you say you are easy to work with?

Hahahaha. Short answer no. However it’s all about development and understanding, things are a lot easier now I am ‘in charge’ so to speak, it’s either my solo stuff where it’s just me or Tommy Concrete and the Werewolves, the clue being it’s my name in the title. Yeah, I have in the past been difficult to work with, but it’s all down to having a psychotic belief in what I do, I have clashed with past members in past bands over musical direction. Sometimes I have perceived people to be not committed enough and I have hit the rage. Other times there have been inhuman amounts of drugs and alcohol involved of which I have more often than not been in the centre of. I just want things to be bang on and have in the past not understood why people didn’t want to put 1000% commitment into bands. But, saying that, 99% of everyone I have previously played with has been a total fucking rocket so it’s not all my fault hahaha. Things work best now with Tommy Concrete and the Werewolves, the three of us click together and everyone is on the same page, if we have delays or fuck ups or I feel like we are not doing enough I retreat into my solo work.

With the new material, are you hoping to put together a live band and tour or do you prefer to be a studio-only project?

The live band is Tommy Concrete and the Werewolves, we play some songs from my solo stuff mixed in with the TCATWW songs. We are writing our second album at the moment and have recently returned to the live circuit. My solo stuff, is essentially a studio-project. There is too much going on with all the guitars, choirs, keyboards and mad overdubs to really replicate most of it live unless I played to a click track and had it all on backing… I have no problem with bands who do that, such as Septicflesh, but it’s just not for me. I love mad studio albums for folk to get absolutely away with it and have their minds blown. Lemmy once described the difference between Hawkwind and Motorhead as that both bands were three piece rock and roll bands, just Hawkwind had ‘teedle dee and toodle doo’ on top of it… So Tommy Concrete has loads of ‘teedle dee and toodle doo’ but Tommy Concrete and the Werewolves doesn’t. On my “The Necromancer” album there is a song called ‘King of the Four Strings’ and it sounds like a fucked up psychedelic version of Ministry with synths all over the shop, we do a stripped down version with TCATWW and it sounds like Motorhead… it’s fun to translate the songs, but it doesn’t always work.

When you have been playing live and up on stage, what do most and least like to see from the crowd?

I love it when you see someone just standing with a big fucking beaming grin on their face, that for me is job done. Especially if it’s someone who just wandered in by accident and isn’t really familiar with the scene, seeing someone discover this world and love it is a brilliant feeling. The thing I like the least is seeing violence, dudes letching over girls, crowd killing and seig heils… however, when you see the audience police itself and get rid of pervs, Nazis and knobbers that is a pretty inspiring sight.

You’ve been busy adding your whole solo discography to Spotify, why do you find this important to do? And do you lament the decline of music in a physical form?

It’s important because there is no quicker or easier way to get your music out there. It’s a bit of a rip off, but saying that I don’t think I lose any sales over it. Bandcamp is way better for the artist and the fan as the sound quality is better. I do lament the demise of physical formats, but I also don’t. “Unrelaxed 2” will be my last physical release, because it just costs so much and I can’t help thinking that the world has enough fucking stuff already. The world is ending, resources are dwindling and I just don’t feel like contributing to the demise of the planet by making more and more ‘stuff’. What I mean is, people buy a CD, then burn it and listen to the mp3’s, or they don’t even burn it and just stream it. It’s cool to have a physical collection of stuff, but material possessions are just the enemy of the soul. I am changing as I get older and becoming weirder I suppose. I have been thinking a lot recently about a guy I met when I was just learning to play, he played guitar in a band called Jump the Pig and he taught me how to play scales. Jump the Pig had a philosophy that music lost it’s soul when it was recorded or sold, they only played live and eventually only rehearsed, but folk were invited to just come to rehearsal whenever they wanted and they would play anywhere that wasn’t a ‘gig’ like houses or busking or whatever. They said that the spirit of the old traditions of indigenous folk music and bands was being lost and forgotten and the magic was being removed by commercialisation. I thought they were mad back then, I realise now they were right. My musical trajectory is moving closer to that attitude every day.

We all seem to be waiting on the “next big thing” to hit metal. Are you going to be it? And what are your thoughts on the future of metal?

Haha it won’t be me, the next big thing has never been a 46 year old and never will be. Fuck knows to be honest. The music industry as we knew it is dead, and good riddance. Young bands now who grew up after it’s death are DIY from birth, and it’s so much easier now, you don’t need a rich mans permission to tour or release music. Bands like Aberdeen’s Hellripper are the ultimate vision of the future for me. A wonderful example of folk just doing it and doing it well. They have no label, no fancy pr, they don’t schmooze with industry wankers down in London and it’s all done in house and they are going places fast with no compromise and no prisoners taken. This is how it should be done, and I think it’s only just the beginning. At the moment a lot of things are very ‘genre focused’ like it was in the 80’s, eventually people will get bored of that and start mixing everything together again like the 90’s… so I predict the next big wave will be lots of bands doing whatever the fuck the want however the fuck they want.

It’s been a pleasure to do this interview, and thank you for taking part and the time to answer. My last question is basically What will you be getting up to next?

I am in the studio with Ramage to finish “Unrelaxed 2” in a few weeks, that should be out at the end of 2019. The second TCATWW album is already in progress with 12 songs written. But my big main next project will be the finishing of my second book, the sequel to “The Wages of Metal”, namely “Brollachans”. It is more or less done, just needs a once over. I have taken a week off work in November to get that done and then will be looking to get it out asap. I love writing and see myself phasing albums out for books, I did a whole bunch of spoken word gigs to promote the “Wages of Metal” and on average I had more at them then I did my musical gigs, so I am looking forward to getting into all that again. Anyway, cheers so much for asking me these questions, I really enjoyed the interview, it was fun to do and I hope folk are intrigued enough to check some of shit out at… https://howlinginvocations.bandcamp.com/

Here is the man in action!

Bonus Question: What album would you like to see me review next?

“The Banished Heart” by Oceans of Slumber

I’ll get Right on that!

Well that was a blast! I might do this again sometime. Give the man some love here:

https://www.facebook.com/TommyConcreteAndTheWerewolves
https://tommyconcrete.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/tommyconcrete