Witness Of Decay brings you the finest Mexican deathcore, wrapped in soaking wet bloody lyrics topped with shredful joy for everyone. Read everything about their scene, perspectives on the future and their message to the worldwide deathcore bands out there.
Describe us the Mexican scene
Our Mexican Scene is hard to explain because it’s a kind of an irregular scene. It's quite strange actually. The one day you’re playing a show in a venue for 200 people, the next day it's just your band and a couple of friends. The audio systems don't always have the best quality, but we think that the people here give everything they got on stage and that makes a good show. And the people are very friendly.
Any interesting future plans? Maybe a Euro tour?
We are planning on touring more here in Mexico. There are still a lot of places that we haven’t got the chance to play at. We also plan on shooting a video for one of our songs and we are also looking forward to going back in the studio by the end of this year to record a full length album. As for Europe, it would be a dream come true to be able to tour and play for you guys. That’s why we will keep working very hard.
What is your message to the worldwide deathcore scene?
You make some of the best music, but it's a kind of music that not everybody can understand and feel. It’s not about fashion or the new trend. It’s about passion and staying true to yourself, because eventually it all pays off. Therefore enjoy and support the shows that are made in your town, buy merch from bands, it helps a lot. And remember that all the huge bands started out playing local shows. Cheers to everyone in Europe. We have heard so many cool things about your shows and scene. And thanks to Brutality Blog for the interview.
For years I had been thinking that the good old metalcore
days have been long gone. I started to believe that this genre had been
bleeding to death in purest silence while a small part of it went its own way. A way of mutation and fragmentation that led to multiple new kinds of genres that simply could not do what
metalcore used to do to me. Apparently some musicians have just been hiding in the
rehearsal rooms for too long to surprise us with EP’s like Constants &
Variables from Sonic Skies.
Bands and how they shatter to pieces is not always a bad thing, because from those shattered parts Sonic Skies was born in 2012.
Constants And Variables
After releasing their very
first EP Icarus, the band now came up with the Constant & Variables
EP. Six songs have been taken from album preproduction's to fit into an EP and make the upcoming album more fit like a whole.
Constants & Variables creates an atmosphere of a walking
the path in the middle of hope and hopelessness. Lyrics of dying hope, returning home can
make a heart sing and your veins feel like they are going to explode. The smooth, yet very tightened riffs make you
hold your breath while waiting for the breakdowns. The artwork - a dark greyish grid with X's and O's - was dedicated to a friend that passed away recently. This EP is pretty amazing if you’re nostalgic and craving for the metalcore
that filled up Belgium’s smallest venues and basements in the early years of
2000.
Random fact:
The band’s hometown Hameln is worldfamous for its ‘Pied Piper of Hamelin’ tale.
To be continued
The second EP has just been released and Sonic Skies is already working on
preproductions for their future album coming up. Seems the guys have an endless source of inspiration that makes their story to be continued… Sooner than you
would think.
It's been a while since something has been posted on this blog. And what's coming now is quite important stuff. What happened yesterday at the redaction of Charlie Hebdo in Paris shook the world. And as a member of Reporters Without Borders, it completely struck me. Being killed because freedom of speech is not tolerated by some people is just incredible. Especially here in the West this is something that remained unimaginable until yesterday...
To all writers, cartoonists, reporters all over the world: Do not shut your mouth, do not take down your pen. Freedom of speech is something that lots of people gave their lives for in history. Make those lives count.
My arms feel as if I have been doing 3000 push-ups and my body is covered in black spots. Eyelids are heavy, my hair still looks dirty after washing it and I miss the smell of vegan dishes coming from the most awesome festival that Belgium has to offer (that’s right, a big 'fuck you' to Tomorrowland). I guess both my body and brain are suffering from the post-Ieperfest syndrome, so I took a pen and started writing. I’ll go through some highlights of the festival with you again, just to cheer everyone up who knows the feeling. Because if home really is where the heart is, then me and thousands of others lost it at Ieperfest. Grab the pieces of your broken heart together. I hand you the glue.
Ieperfest is an interesting concept, covering many facets of a subculture and creates a unique landscape for music fans. In the More Than Music Tent, the festival was literally described as a ‘temple’ by some that have been visiting the festival over decades.
Because during the times without the internet, Ieperfest was the only way to get the merch and music that you had been craving for all year. You can expand your merch- and or album collection easily at the event, just like your knowledge. As we were just walking around the merch tent and chitchatting around with people from all kinds of ages, we actually got educated about the 70’s and 80’s punkscene in Belgium. Ieperfest knows no barriers when it comes to age, gender, skin colour, height or weight. We are all hardcore kids, gathering for the party of the year. Now let’s get this party started! A glimpse of what you can see and
what you can participate in at the More Than Music Tent
Day 1 at Flanders Fields
As heavy rain was turning the festival site into a mudwrestling palace with only the women in bikini missing, the fans of Expire did not move back and kept on standing during the whole set. The band played a faster and shorter set with less of the blabla stuff going on on stage, so the fans could look for shelter afterwards.
From US hardcore to US punkrock. Total Chaos started a hell of a party in the marquee where you could get your hair and nasty socks dried. Old skool pogo time modus was on, mohawks a must and those who didn't join could not even bite the dust. I SWEAR TO GOD THERE WAS MUD EVERYWHERE.
After some vegan snacks we saw Backtrack pushing it to the limit on the main stage and Dead Kennedys are soon to be renamed into Almost Dead Kennedys. Jello Biafra made Ieperfest chew on anti capitalist statements last year, Dead Kennedys without him is just not the same. Biafra's replacement Jeff had been tackling too much bottles before going on stage and his incoherent speeches did not enlighten one single soul watching the band. The only thing that seemed to matter was 'California Über Alles'
Happy surprise of the day was Ringworm, a US metalcore band that planned to play just three shows in Europe this year. I remember loving this band as a teenager and Ringworm even sounded better live than they ever did on my iPod.
The Belgian punks from Sunpower made the newest Trench stage turn into the Party Tent, even though they had to deal with power problems. The drummer however, kept on entertaining the fans by drumming some Iron Maiden inspired songs until the technicians figured out what went wrong.
It is undeniable that Dog Eat Dog was something most (wiggy) Ieperlovers looked forward to. Plastic saxes were passed to some diehard fans and the whole crowd was singing, yelling, stagediving, crowdsurfing and enjoying the live eargasms.
Anyone wanting some speakers being thrown at them could check out Blind To Faith. Also people were just throwing themselves after that epic speaker moment. That was just sick.
Headliner of the day No Warning was *££*%Ù@€ôô}—*€ôÙ@≠÷µô}øÇÇ¡«¶{no text available}. Just watch this.
Day two at Flanders Fields:
We managed to get awake without the usual overdose of caffeine, because Curse Of Millhaven delivered us some early get-the-fuck-up death core that made us shiver to the bone. Thanks for that. Those guys make me feel proud to have Belgian roots. In September they play the release show for their EP, in Ieper of course.
Authority Zero has been around since the beginning of the 90's and turned the marquee into heaven for punkrockers and the hardcore kids. Worthy warm up for Real McKenzies that were scheduled later on the day. There was dancing, pogo, dancing, pogo, singalongs and funny drunk people bothering other funny drunk people.
American hardcore band Turnstile played their first show in Belgium at the legendary Ieperfest. The guys received an incredible response that even the band didn't expect in the first place. Headwalkers and ballcrushers represent! Keep your eyes peeled for more videos on Youtube, because they are worth watching, even if you have no idea about what or who Turnstile is.
The most brutal band from NY named Suffocation is another pearl hidden in the middle of a hardcore piled line-up. These death metal bandmembers started jamming before most readers here (I am guilty myself) were even born. Still, their deathmetal sounds timeless and therefore was amazing. They only scheduled a handful of concerts in Europe, Ieper was one of their last stops before starting the American tour.
And of course there was Deez Nuts... Because the question here is which festivals they don't play. This band was officially on my list of worst live acts, but Deez Nuts did the best performance that I ever witnessed in both Germany and Belgium. Frontman JJ Peters did not screw up this time, he might have even been the most sober partystarting bastard of the festival. See what I did there?
Open up the pogo and bring on the bagpipe! The one and only Canadian Real McKenzies were a real magnet for all punks and punk rockers. Traditional Scottish music gets punked and mohawked. The voluntary lifted up kilt and the hairy ass were for free.
Gorilla Biscuits went something like this. Keep an eye on that vocalistic narcism thing going on there.
Day three at Flanders Fields: The final resistance
Caffeine and early morning Israel hardcore smashed into you face by Kids Insane to wake and shake up Ieperfest. From the whispers into your ears ‘til a stagediving frontman to get those poles in the marquee moving. After playing Groezrock earlier this year and Aalst earlier this month, they ended their tour together with Bane at Ieperfest.
There were some problems again with the power just when No Zodiac was feeding the beatdownkids, which made the set a bit shorter than expected. No Zodiac hasn’t played much shows in Belgium yet, so their crew was happily welcoming them to the main stage at Ieperfest. Fatalism in order to replace peace was promoted by songs as 'Population Control' and 'Drowning'.
Last show of the tour from Bane. It is better to glimpse at this video than to read what we would write on it, as we simply could not find the words. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAjGXmVDqm8
H20 means party time for everyone, including the little kids. Some kiddies went crowdsurfing and carried around as if they were pieces of gold, because those moments are something to remember for everyone. Because it proves that there are no age limits for punkrock and we are all equal. As always, H2O likes to keep their 'What Happened' for the very end. But even if they would turn their set the other way around, it wouldn't change a thing about the atmosphere they breathe over their fans.
Maroon played one of their very last shows and the vibe in the marquee was just moving everyone. And when the poles were going from left to right, I wasn’t sure if it was the storm outside or Maroon’s incredible awesome metal causing this. The old skool moshing was completely in again and crowdkilling was a no go. Long live German metal!
The beautifully headlining Heaven Shall Burn did not promote their new album, but instead played numerous of old songs. The frontman Marcus also won the official Brutality Blog award for being the most funny German. He seems to carry this very down to earth attitude, so much that it even looks like an old friend making fun of you when you dare to stand in front of the stage without moving and having your arms crossed. ANYWAY: official Brutality Blog award for most brutal vocals together with a heart soaked by sweetness goes out to HSB. Why? Because this guy came to check on everyone that got stuck into a ‘pile’ of people right in front of the stage. No further songs were played until he was sure that everyone was on his or her feet again and was alright. Skullbreaking song ‘Black Tears’ was the absolute breaking point where everyone lost their minds, glasses, masks, beanies and shoes. If I'm right, someone captured that on camera, so you could just keep on refreshing Youtube until it's uploaded. Somewhere. On the interwebz.
All glued up
Now that we have our hearts fixed, let’s look forward to the first names of Ieper Winter Fest 2015 and of course to Ieperfest Summer edition 2015.
Make hardcore music, not war
Exactly one hundred years ago Flanders Fields were shaking heavily. Blood got spilled and lives were lost. This might sound like old crap that is rusting away in school books, but these things are still going on today in other countries and we should not forget about that.
A little P.S. shout-out: Vort'n Vis needs you!
For those who really care about the scene: The H8000 venue Vort’n Vis (roots of Ieperfest) is being rebuild after it needed serious renovation. They are still raising money, because no money means no future for Vort’n Vis.
Anyone that could miss some euros (because every tiny bits help) and wants to support the very roots of both the H8000 scene and Ieperfest, can donate in order to help rebuild the venue. Check out their website to follow the rebuilding of the venue! =)
For those who missed out on the free show at café Oep'n Ander in Aalst, here is a video that we shot yesterday. The band is playing Ieperfest this Sunday, see you at the front rows!
Kids Insane on FB: https://www.facebook.com/kidsinsane?fref=ts
No it’s not your favourite Family Guy episode. It’s the intro of the very first four-songs-counting Chikatilo EP, named Mistake Of Nature. Note that it is a DIY creation, so thumbs up for that!
I could write a book on this EP, but to keep things short it could be described as: Breakdown… Madness… Breakdown… Breakdown and another slice of madness x 4. The band describes itself as ‘Slam’. I probably missed out on something going on these days, because I don’t even have a clue what the hell that is. Maybe I’ll know after getting slammed in the face during one of their shows. Or maybe I just gave up on playing Pokémon too early to get the meaning of ‘slam’. However this one thing is sure: The Chikatilo EP is food for the beatdownkids that have been hungry for a while.
These Belgians had their first success already in Japan, now we will wait see and see how things turn out for them in Belgium and the rest of Europe. In September their UK tour kicks off, festivals like the UK Ballerfest are on their tour checklist.
Even though there is a big crisis going on in this sickminded world, remember that there is still Chikatilo. Enjoy!
Chikatilo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChikatiloSlam?fref=ts
What is Ieperfest? Who is Ieperfest? Why the hack should I go to Ieperfest? All these and more existential questions will be answered in this article. Read more to find your way in festival life.
Ieperfest is THE event in the H8000 scene attracting hardcore fans from all over Europe and way beyond. It is a tasty vegan hardcore festival organized by Genet Records and Vort’n Vis, lending their Flanders Fields stages to the most awesome metal- and hardcore bands from all over the world. Why you should come to Ieper from the 8th until the 10th of August? One: because it’s Ieperfest. Two: Heaven Shall Burn is headlining! Three: the food is just awesome. For those convinced already, tickets can be purchased here: http://www.ieperfest.com/2014/tickets
Ieperfest isn’t just about music, it’s also about education, participation and also a bit about veganism. Actually a lot about veganism. Vegans are showing up at the festival, just for the delicious burgers, icecream, coffee and stew. Yes, vegan stew. Ieperfest wants to put emphasis on environment, animals and health by keeping the festival vegan ever since it ever started for the first time.
The line-up highlights
On Friday
Ramallah just got back from the Land of Not, straight into Flanders Fields. They describe themselves as hardcore/metal, but if you know that they are from the Bridge Nine family, you should be able to know what they sound like… Pretty awesome. Expect their new album somewhere this year.
Expire signed with Bridge Nine Records and proudly presented their newest album ‘Pretty Low’ to the world earlier this year. In February Expire made a stop in Belgium for a clubshow in Antwerp. Now they are coming back to Europe to stagebreak some festivals AND are dragged into the Ieperfest line-up to give you some white trash hardcore that kicks ass.
Total Chaos choose a bandname to describe themselves to the core. Totally chaotic. Throwing with eggs during the set is allowed, since those punks probably need it to keep up their soaked in sweat mohawks. Just be careful you don’t hit any vegans. At least throw eggs that are from chickens in your garden, not the industrialized supermarket ones. Also use eggs that have expired already and cannot be eaten anymore, to keep your action ecologicaly sustainable. That should do the trick and you don’t get yourself into trouble.
Surge of Fury is the Belgian band of the day that has been around since the 90s and have steady and proud signed with Rucktion records. Suit up for a boogiedownbreakdown.
Dead Kennedys are the godfathers of the hardcore punk scene that grew out to what it looks like today. Anyone calling him- or herself a hardcore kid should at least attend this set while being at Ieperfest on Friday. Note that they play very early, so don’t miss them!
On Saturday
Suffocation is extreme metal and purest brutality that has been around for over 20 years. On Saturday they do a pitstop at Ieperfest to blow your ears into pieces of shit.
Morning Again is crazy 90s shit that is coming to Ieperfest again. Morning Again is very pleased to be on stage again at Flanders Fields. In May, they announced this on their Facebookpage: “Regarding Ieperfest: We're going to ask that nobody sings along when we play, please. No running around or "dancing" either. This is serious shit. And wear ties.” Just so you know what it up.
Turnstile are very young American boys that bring the old skool vibe hardcore back on stage. Stagediving is allowed and might even be obligatory.
Kids Insane. Not sure if they play on Saturday, but they were announced to play Ieperfest! These guys from Israel bring very strong live performances in a pure way, think of acts like Have Heart.
Real MCKenzies. No explanation needed to tell the world who these old fucks are, because who doesn’t know them is simply not from this world. And I guess aliens are not reading this blog. Soooo, a little summit: Folk orchestras and happy dancing (no hardcore dancing on this, sorry guys) while the Real MCKenzies do their thing at Ieperfest.
On Sunday
Strife is a very strong live band, pushing fans to the limits during their shows. It’s so to say impossible to just stand and watch and not go nuts when seeing the band performing. Why? Here is a little anekdote: Last year at Groezrock, there was a pool of blood with the microphone dropped into it that was left after the band left the stage. Prepare and bring bandages to throw on stage. Or to use them yourself.
Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat. SAY WHAT? Don’t worry, the bandname can be squeezed into the most incognito abbreviation ever for people who don’t feel comfortable pronouncing it in public. The Belgian KTAOABC brings back the ’80s phsychedelic wave sounds. Definitely an outstanding act at the Ieper Hardcore Fest that you shouldn’t miss out on.
Subzero is old skool new York hardcore, standing strong ever since the 80s. A set to attend in case you want to dig into hardcore history and know what Ieperfest actually is all about.
Boysetsfire: after dissapearing for a while, their comeback has striker the scene even harder than they ever did before.
Heaven Shall Burn is the one and only Heaven Shall Burn. With a very long list of albums on their name, their newest 'Veto' is another blast. Prepare for an awesome performance, maybe even with some real fire in there. Definetely a worthy headliner forIeper Hardcore Fest.
Ieperfest official website: http://www.ieperfest.com/2014/
