Interview: Garden of Eyes (2021)

Hailing from the murky tombs of England, GARDEN OF EYES is the morbid manifestation and solo Death Metal project of Nattskog, a metal maniac with a slew of projects under his belt. Read the interview to learn more about the world of Nattskog and his ventures.  

Morbid greetings, Nattskog! You seem to be quite a prominent figure on social media when it comes to reviews (both written and youtube videos). I'd say that takes some dedication! Much respect! Can you start by telling us a little about your webzine, and then we will get into your musical projects with the next questions

Hails! I appreciate those words of support! My webzine is to dedicated to supporting what I deem to be worthy Heavy Metal of any subgenera. It is a simple venture but one I find truly rewarding, getting to support and listen to killer underground music!

If I'm not mistaken, you are of Norwegian descent but live in England? Are you able to understand/speak Norwegian? Are you proud of your heritage? And what is your opinion on metal from Norway? Do you have any favourites?

I am indeed, I was raised in the UK but of Norwegian parentage. I am able to speak Norwegian but definitely not perfectly! Pride is not the word I would use, on the merit I didn’t achieve anything, I just happened to have DNA from a certain location! Norway is a beautiful country with a fascinating history though, so I will always enjoy spending time there. As for Norwegian Metal, I am indeed a fan! Naturally the Black Metal bands of the 90s are a huge inspiration but in more recent times; Deathhammer, Condor, Evoke, Obliteration, Mork and plenty more are doing Norway’s underground proud.

Can you tell us a bit about your death metal project Garden of Eyes and how it came to be? What are the main influences and what sound are you trying to achieve?

GARDEN OF EYES is inspired by a Swedish and Finnish Metal primarily but also plenty of other things. Of course American and South American Death Metal is hugely important to me, but in the sound there is also plenty of Heavy Metal influence from 80s NWOBHM and Speed Metal, definitely some Thrash and Doom in the mix too. I want GARDEN OF EYES to reflect my adoration and dedication for Metal as a whole, however subtly that may be.

How has the feedback been so far for your latest EP titled, "Boomhammer"? Are you happy with the outcome? Will there be a full-length in the near future or do you plan to refine the sound a bit more?

The feedback has been phenomenal! The reviews and interviews have generated a very supportive response which I am truly grateful for. The vinyl has been selling well and most importantly to me, it has been going to many different corners of the world, which I always find exciting! I do plan for a full length, but I have various goals in mind that need to happen first, such as live shows, adding a drummer and perhaps some more small releases to refine the sound as you put it.

Can you tell us something about the term "Eldritch Death Metal" and the connotation behind it? What kind of themes are you exploring with Garden of Eyes?

“Eldritch Death Metal” is a term I found fits the bands spectral sound perfectly. The word “Eldritch” is heavily used in reference to Lovecraftian literature which is a huge inspiration thematically, especially by proxy of our dominant theme being lore from the game Bloodborne. Cosmic horror and Death Metal are a perfect pairing of forces in my opinion. We explore horrors far beyond the reaches of this measly universe.

Your musical project Garden of Eyes seems to be part of the new wave of British Death Metal that has spawned some incredible bands as of late. What is your opinion on the current state of death metal from England? The scene there seems healthier than ever and it wasn't always the case! What are some killer death metal bands from the UK these days?

This is a new term to me, but I have seen it a couple of times now. My opinion is aligned with yours here, England has a healthier scene than ever! It seems to come in waves here, back in the day we had some obvious bands pioneering Death-Doom and some underground gems like Decomposed, plus obvious legends like Bolt Thrower, Benediction and Cancer. Additionally bands like Adorior and Grave Miasma have always carried the torch of fantastic Death Metal for many years. But now we have a mass of maniacs playing Death Metal which is great! I recommend Grave Miasma, Adorior, Coffin Mulch, Vacuous, Consecration, Celestial Sanctuary, Seven Doors and Decrepid. I am just thinking off the top of my head, so apologies to the many talented allies I have here!

Can you tell us a little bit about some of your other bands besides Garden of Eyes and their musical styles?

GARDEN OF EYES has become my main musical focus (with a few things happening quietly behind the scenes). While I chose to indefinitely put most of my projects on hiatus, that is NOT to say they won’t return at points. Sykelig Englen is the longest running which is more traditional Black Metal which became more dissonant in its later releases. Hexivoid is far more otherworldly Black Metal with a cosmic theme and more inspired by Icelandic bands and the likes of Deathspell Omega and Portal. Ritual Flail focuses more on a Medieval Black Metal sound inspired by obscure 90s bands that used synths but in a way that did not tame the Black Metal spirit. Blasphemous Degradation played Blackened Death Metal inspired by the likes of Black Witchery, Blasphemy, Conqueror, Archgoat, Revenge, Proclamation etc. And I did have various others including Arboretum (Death Metal), Chernobyl Mutation Experiment (Thrash Metal) and Graven Crypt Tower (Death-Doom) but that is going even further back.

Your English is excellent! It seems to me that the process of writing reviews comes naturally to you. I can only aspire to write excellent reviews like you one day, even though I am older. What do you think makes a good reviewer and do you think it's necessary to have a degree in English in order to write good or valid reviews?

Thank you, in fairness it is my dominant language, I am not a maestro of juggling languages like an aunt of mine who speaks about 7. Reviewing does indeed come naturally to me, but that isn’t due to some inherent skill with articulation as much as it is an untamed passion for great Heavy Metal and a burning need to assist in its conquering of the underground. I think your reviews are really cool man, I do not really compare writers to each other as I try not to do with bands too much as it can be unhelpful. I failed English in high school (possibly due to refusing to show up, preferring to listen to Kreator records if I recall correctly) but I would say my vocabulary and understanding of English is fine regardless due to reading in my own time. Thus no, I don’t think a degree or any level of English (or any language) qualification makes a good reviewer, they’re just words. What makes a good reviewer is a passion and genuine desire to support Heavy Metal (or whatever they choose to review). You can feign intelligence, you cannot feign passion, that is my attitude. Plus, I am in no position to say what is and isn’t valid, if you are supporting what you deem to be worthwhile, it is valid!

What are some of your favourite zines/webzines currently, what are some of your worthy labels from the underground that you would like to give a shoutout to or recommend?

There is a ton lately! Cthulhu zine, Soulgrinder zine, Tough Riffs, Bestial Desecration, Headsplit’s newsletter, Discarnage zine, Decomposed zine, Slowly We Rot zine and Bardo Methodology are some of the finest print works in my mind! Webzines, I enjoy yours for a start (hence me doing this), GBHBL, Ave Noctum, Metal Bite, Astral Noise, Blessed Altar, Metal Hellvoluion, Metal Temple, Grimmgent, Cadaver Garden, VM Underground and probably 10000 more I missed!

Older zines like Ultimate Darkness, Slayer mag and Ultra Damaged are key inspirations to my own. On which note, I do also have a print zine, though one still in its infancy with 2 issues called Shrieks From The Abyss and additionally contribute to Legions Ov Darkness, both paper zines aside from my main webzine for anyone interested!

I believe 2021 has been a pretty excellent year for metal so far. Can you tell us some of your favourite albums of the year?

It really has! Some key new albums for me are: Grave Miasma, Qrixkuor, Craven Idol, Asphyx, Herzel, Blazon Rite, Lucifer’s Hammer, Morbific, and many many more! Go read my webzine for more opinions haha!

To wrap things up, can you tell us about your future plans for Garden of Eyes, including some details about your other ventures? Thanks again for your time! All the best!

GARDEN OF EYES is working on being able to put on a crushing live show, hopefully sooner rather than later! I am naturally always writing material too! I am also working hard on my webzine and fanzine, along with my YouTube! As for the rest, they may be dormant, but who knows what can happen! I am also working on a couple of cool demos with co-blasphemer K who has been present throughout my musical journey. Otherwise, let us see what Heavy Metal conquests occur, I never force things, I just do what I must.

Thank you for taking the time to interview me and support the underground as a whole! Stay true and support real Heavy Metal!!!

Split review: Thecodontion / Vessel of Iniquity - The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event (2021)

Thecodontion / Vessel of Iniquity - The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event

Italy / England

I, Voidhanger Records / Dead Red Queen Records / Bad Moon Rising 惡月上昇

Well, holy shit! The material on this split is great. I have never heard of either bands before listening to this release. Admittedly, I really like splits as it's always interesting to hear how bands represent themselves, and often times splits have great songs from bands that are not always featured on their other releases. The split in question features two pretty awesome bands: Thecodontion from Italy and Vessel of Iniquity from England.

Thecodontion is up first, presenting two tracks that reach the 6-minute mark each. This band has a sound rooted in pure black/death metal, but with an experimental touch, including the fact that the music is quite atmospheric. Now the term "atmospheric" can often times be misinterpreted as music with soothing melodies that bring tears to your eyes or bring a warm smile to your face. This is not the case with Thecodontion, as the music emits a deeply sinister tone that evokes a sense of utter horror, and yet the music is so incredibly catchy that it is impossible to resist. They have some of the best bass playing I have heard from a new black/death band in a long, long time. The bass is a driving force in the music and reminds me of Swedish death metal band Karnarium, as they employ it in an almost similar way. References could be made to bands like Antediluvian, Mitochondrion and Chaos Echoes as they have a similar approach to songwriting and atmosphere. The drums are very adequately played and even quite technical in a kind of straightforward sense. The drums and bass definitely have a good chemistry on this release. Thecodontian has a wholly unique sound and take on black/death metal and all I can say is that I will be listening to more of their music.

Vessel of Iniquity is the far more chaotic entry of the two bands and assaults the listener with a terrifying 11 minute piece of frantic black metal with some harsh noise elements. I think the overlapping elements make this a really interesting and enjoyable split. I am not sure what state S.P. White was in when he recorded this madness, but it certainly sounds like he was in a murderous trance or something. It seems like the track "The Great Dying" is split into two parts but stitched together as one composition, which is interesting because there's a bit of a breather from all the chaos about halfway through when the listener is subjected to a rhythmic percussion with an eerie ambience in the background, followed by more hyper-blasting madness and screams coming straight from hell. The riffs, percussion and vocals are all exceptionally well put together as the music shows a heightened sense of atmosphere that will transport you to another realm.

Overall, it's a very interesting and enjoyable split that I will certainly be coming back to, considering the quality output of both bands. Props to I, Voidhanger for putting out such a harrowing and abstract piece of aural sickness. (HT) 

EP review: Garden of Eyes - Boomhammer (2021)

Garden of Eyes - Boomhammer

England/UK

Ancient Entity Records / AHPN Records 

Garden of Eyes is a one-man project from England playing rotten death metal and "Boomhammer" is their latest work – a short 2-track EP clocking in at 8 minutes. The music has a thick buzzsaw sound reminiscent of Swedish death metal, although I can also hear a bit of Finnish death in their sound. You could say the sound is like a mix of the two. There's a lot of distortion on the guitar that gives the music quite a vicious feel, coupled with the evil vocal effects. The two tracks on this demo are rather brief, but have a resounding impact in terms of their execution. I would say that Nattskog has a good knack for composing solid death metal that is loaded with an array of crushing riffs. The music is decidedly straightforward and simple, but well structured and quite dark. There's definitely a bit of early UK doom to the sound as well, especially during the slower parts. The raw production suits the music and the simple approach works for the band. I noticed that the drums are programmed, although they do not sound overbearing, as the attention is mainly on the riffs and vocals. Overall, this is a solid slab of morbid death metal and recommended for fans of the old Swedish and Finnish scenes. (HT)

Interview: Mortuary Spawn (2021)

 

Mortuary Spawn is a killer death metal band from England who recently released their crushing debut EP "Spawned From The Mortuary" which is an addictive blast of brutality from start to finish. The following interview was conducted with the band’s guitarist, Jack.

Greetings! How’s everything going in England? Please tell us how Mortuary Spawn was conceived and what the band is all about.

Hi Jim - cheers for the interview! All’s well here, or as close to well as it can be these days. On the welcome cusp of having shows return even as cases of the virus seem to be skyrocketing, so wouldn’t be surprised if that decision gets reversed, but on the whole we are happy and healthy.

Mortuary Spawn started as an idea myself and Ben (drums) had many years ago, shortly after a band we were in called Bong Goblin ended. The initial plan was for Ben to send across some mad sounding drums and I would come up with some riffs and send them back, working that way as we were based in different cities at the time, but that never ended up happening, mostly because of my ineptitude using recording software! In the meantime I had started writing some songs with some friends more local to London under the name Deadly Intentions, but as that project kind of dissolved, I started travelling up to Leeds on spare weekends and jamming with Ben with more purpose, and at that point you could probably say Mortuary Spawn was properly spawned. Shortly after that Ben (bass) joined, followed by George on vocals, and all the while we were searching for a capable shredder who eventually emerged in Joe after he watched our debut show supporting Demilich on Valentine’s Day 2020. Then the pandemic hit and although it really scuppered our plans (and everyone else’s!) in hindsight it gave Joe a chance to catch up and add some extra flavour to the EP, which was eventually recorded by Ben at our practice space earlier in the year.

As to what we’re about - nothing more than trying to write some gross Top of the Pops death metal and having a good time while we’re at it!

As we all know, the underground is saturated with bands and competition is strong. Do you feel it’s important to leave one’s mark with a quality output, as opposed to releasing some sub-par material that will soon be forgotten in time?

The obvious answer is yes, but it depends on what you’re trying to achieve! If that’s immortality through music, then for sure, crack on with writing a masterpiece. I think I’ve been in over 15 bands, and I’d say most of them would be classed as sub-par or forgettable unless you were directly involved in them, but playing music isn’t a popularity contest for many people, or at least it needn’t be when you’re playing this style. It helps not to lose sight of the fact that you need to entertain people with quality songs if you want to play live a lot, but as long as we continue to write music that is interesting and fun to us, that is the key thing.

Your debut EP “Spawned From The Mortuary” ripped my head off. Raw, vicious, and well-executed Death Metal. Can you tell us a little bit about the sound you were after, including some details about the whole writing process? Will there be more of the same with future releases?

Cheers! There was no foundational plan or guiding principles when it came to writing these songs, and because some of the riffs have been bouncing around in my head for the best part of a decade before being upgraded massively by the full band’s input, there’s been the chance for a lot of revisions and improvements along the way. I’ve got some videos of some of the riffs that made it on to the EP from 2013, and the hardcore influence was a lot stronger then, sounding more like All Out War or Stampin’ Ground. I’m glad it’s ended up fully death metal sounding, and that’s largely down to the combined talents/capabilities/backgrounds of everyone in the band. Ben (Southern, bass) is a maniac for grind with the nastiest tone in the business, while Joe (Kerry, guitar) is successfully learning Stabwound by Necrophagist at the moment, so I think playing to our strengths while working towards a common goal is probably the reason we sound like we do. Going forward the songwriting has started to be a lot more collaborative, but I still do most of my portion of things at home first, as I can obsess over note choice for hours on end without wasting anyone else’s time (bar my own) that way, before bringing it to Ben (Jones, drums) to demo/learn and then to the practice room. Expect pretty much more of the same from us in the future, which is essentially our take on classic death metal - not enormously original but not entirely hackneyed either.

I have to admit, the black and white artwork for the EP is just awesome and gives off a sort of cult vibe that fits your music. What is the idea behind it and who is the artist?

The original concept was George’s and it was drawn up by the excellent Tombtower, someone we know from their time playing in Stiff Meds before relocating to Berlin. The brief was pretty short - we wanted a corridor filled with a trail of chaos leading to a set of double doors behind which you would not want to go. Tom ended up going one step further and actualising this horrific monstrosity that you see on the cover, so there’s less left to the imagination but it’s certainly better for it and we’re extremely happy with his work!

Do ridiculous boomer sentiments like “metal is dead” hold any significance to you?

Haha - absolutely not! Great metal musicians keep dying, which is obviously terrible, and we’ll most likely never return to a time of stadium filling metal bands, but any which way you look at that statement, it’s a pretty stupid and blinkered one.

Has metal become too soft and watered-down? Are people too sensitive nowadays? How do you feel about censorship?

As far as I’m aware, no! If anything, metal mirrors the population at large - it has spread, split into smaller and smaller fractions, evolved for the better and for the worse, argued with itself, become many new things and preserved old ideas too. So if you go looking for something that seems soft and watered down to you, you could probably find it easier than ever before, but that ease applies to more orthodox shit (rendering the concept of obscure somewhat less earned) and other much more unpalatable ends of the spectrum too. I reckon a lot of the people you see pumping out inflammatory sentiments regarding censorship, or a perceived culture war, or trying to reduce the world to binary terms like left and right when it suits them to do so - people like Nergal from Behemoth, for instance - are smart people who are too comfortable in their own views to continue to evolve or listen to other experiences that contradict their own. Penny Rimbaud of Crass is someone else who because of their own well established world view, just sounds like an idiot these days. It stinks of laziness and intellectual stagnation, it sucks. More than trying to censor others' views, I think we all need to practice a bit more compassion and spend a lot less time trying to garner truths about the world from warped, decontextualised online interactions. Honestly, is there anything more depressing than a group of older men with stupid avatars banding together in a space they dominate to convince some new teenage black metal fan that they are somehow wrong or a poser to bring up the issue of outright racism in the music that they are encountering for the first time? It’s a hateful playground where it’s easy to get sucked into the wrong crew for quite some time before you’re able to come to your own (hopefully palatable and respectful) conclusions. Metal and the wider music world will always be a place where ideas can be discussed and learned and an avenue for expression, but they definitely aren’t the places where they should be finalised or taken as law.

What are some of your favourite albums of all time and which bands influenced your sound?

Most of my faves dwell outside of the kind of relevant levels of heavy, but all of Sepultura’s classics, Doom - Rush Hour of the Gods, Entombed - Clandestine, Extreme Noise Terror - Phonophobia, Carcass + Obituary + Death in general, Framtid, Bolt Thrower, Merciless - The Awakening, Aura Noir, Black Breath - Slaves Beyond Death, After The Bombs - Relentless Onslaught, Celtic Frost (big time) and Dystopia are all firm favourites of mine who fit both categories and have seeped in to the Mortuary Spawn sound somehow!

Can you give us some details about working with labels like Brutal Cave Productions, Chamber of Emesis, and Sewer Rot Records? How has the response been so far towards your music?

Great on all three counts - Chamber of Emesis is George’s venture with the other two in Vomitorium and we thought 50 copies with them would be enough for a first run, but we’ve got through a fair few extra copies now. It was only a matter of days after putting the EP up on bandcamp until Brutal Cave (Portugal) and Sewer Rot (Southern California) got in contact with offers that worked for all parties, as in no unreasonable obligations, no expectation of riches, but plenty of enthusiasm for the music, and although there’s crazy delays with production worldwide at the moment, you should be able to buy Mortuary Spawn stuff from both of them by the time this is published!

The response has been pretty great and more than we expected, and since then it’s been a pleasure finding out a bit more about the current landscape of death metal through the support we’ve got from strangers in the underground. I didn’t realise death metal was having such a big moment! I might have come across them anyway, but now I’m listening to 2021 releases by bands like Sněť, Morbific and Cerebral Rot and thinking, shit, these guys are very very good and we’re going to have to be very very good too.

That will be the end of our interview, thanks for your time! The last rotten words are yours.

If you’re in the UK, come to any of the shows listed below, and give us a shout on mortuaryspawn@gmail.com so we can come play in your living room/alldayer/generator show/megafest/miserable town, we really would like that. Thanks again, Jim!

LEEDS 24/07/21 w/ Discharge, Pest Control, Ona Snop, Frisk + loads more @ Boom

LONDON 02/09/21 w/ Celestial Sanctuary, Slimelord + Vacuous @ the Black Heart

LONDON 11/09/21 Chimpyfest w/ Varukers, Active Minds, Sulk + loads more @ New Cross Inn

LEEDS 14/10/21 w/ Foetal Juice, Basement Torture Killings + Ona Snop @ Boom

MANCHESTER 16/10/21 w/ Wode, Live Burial + Sump @ the Star and Garter

Demo review: Garden of Eyes - Altar of Despair (2020)

 

Garden of Eyes – Altar of Despair – Demo (2020)

England

Cryptic Blood Records

Garden of Eyes is a one-man manifestation spawned from the depths of Nordwich, England, with sole member Nattskog handling all instruments on its latest demo, “Altar of Despair.” Personally, I always like to check out new death metal bands from the UK, even though the amount of quality death metal from over there may not always be in abundance, but the few that manage to pop up on my radar never fail to impress me. Garden of Eyes utilizes the Swedish axe tone, but what makes them a bit different is their varied use of tempos, and the fact that the music is mostly slow, evil and excruciatingly heavy, paired with a cavernous vocal assault that sounds like it was spewed from the mouth of some hideous ghoul. The band refers to their music as “Rotten Eldritch Death Metal” and the description couldn't be more spot on. Programmed drums can be a hit or miss, but are well done in this case, adding a heavy dynamic to the music. The atmosphere on this release is absolutely morose and makes me think of being lost in some underground catacomb filled with all things decayed. The three songs on “Altar of Despair” offers a tasty 12 minutes of pure charnel, unholy death metal that is bound to raise a few dead souls every time you press play. (HT)

https://ahpnrecords.bandcamp.com/album/altar-of-despair