Lord Almighty Talks Troubled Paths Of Life & Black N' Roll

Interview with Keenan Carroll (Guitar/Vocals) 

Boston's Lord Almighty have been making a name for themselves lately with their debut album Paths, (available via Bandcamp) a strange mixture of black metal, prog and classic rock. I learned that comparing these guys to an act like Animals as Leaders wasn't quite what they were looking for...

First of all, let me start by saying that I’ve scoured the web looking for information about you guys, so I don’t even know who plays what. Tell us a little bit about the band, how you came to be and literally, who plays what.

Haha. Yeah in a lot of ways the music we create isn’t about knowing exactly who we are through the internet and through pictures of us that you would hang on your wall, like we all use to do with our favorite bands when we were younger. We like the face to face shit, for example, come meet us at a show and hang. To give you a little insight though we have:

Keenan Carroll: Guitar, Vocals
Sam Willgoose: Lead Guitar
Phill Gelinas: Bass
Chris Narainen: Drums

Paths is a very intricate release, and I’ve heard everything in it from Animals As Leaders to Satyricon to Wolves In The Throne Room and others. This is a very bombastic sound for black metal, so what made you decide to try your hand at something so different?

Honestly it comes from all the different genres of music and bands we’ve all played in. It’s been a long journey through the woods of life to make it to this project. We all finally feel at home with ourselves and musically. Metal is something we all grew up on and it was time to get back to it.

In case I’m missing any, what are some of the influences that inspired your sound on this particular album? Do you see some of these continuing to be an influence on the next one, or are we about to get something completely different?

Hate to be a buzzkill here but Animals as Leaders is definitely not one of them. No disrespect though against you or the musicianship in Animals as Leaders. Mostly what we are inspired by in our music is bands like, Darkthrone, Thin Lizzy and Lynyrd Skynyrd just to name a few of the big ones. Satyricon and Wolves in the Throne Room are both awesome bands that I personally enjoy. Can’t beat rock n roll, and growing up on black metal didn’t hurt either.

Describe the concept behind Paths. It seems to be a very deep record with many significant parts, each separated by a different marker.

Really the whole idea of “Paths,” is that each and every one of us comes from a different one. We don’t care where you come from or what you’re going through. We all have shit in our lives and that right there is what we can all relate to.

What are some other bands that we might know you from? Are there any other acts out there that you want to represent in Boston?

All of the other bands we played in were local bands who didn’t get to get out and tour much. That’s one of the primary focuses of Lord Almighty, is making sure we get out there to tour a good bit. Boston is filled with talented bands who are crushing forward in metal. Some that come to mind off the top of my head are Coagula, Upheaval, Replacire just to name a few. But seriously you gotta just look up some boston bands.

What are your thoughts on the current political election? Do you think it matters who wins this year?

This is certainly a loaded question. All of us in Lord Almighty have a little different positioning but we all agree that it is certainly fucked out there. I know I personally don’t see a solution in any direction, though I’m also the type of guy who yells conspiracy!

http://lordalmighty.bandcamp.com/album/paths

In Obscurity Revealed - Grim Fumes Of Revelation (2016)

Mexico's In Obscurity Revealed just crawled out of it's demo days with this debut EP release, which you'll be able to pick up in about eleven days when it comes out on September 12th. Putting out a four-track demo just last year, it seems these guys are finally ready to show the world what they're made of. If you're into grueling and certainly grim performances with lyrics based in death, chaos and the occult – then you are in for one hell of a show here. First off, I'm noticing drumer EH, and the way that he seems to barrel right through some of these cuts. Secondly, we have a selection of tremolos in addition to some rather unique distortions courtesy of DC and ER, which really turns the approach on it's head. As much as I like tremolos, I like it more when these guys attempt something that sounds as utterly demented as I'm experiencing right now. As long as these guys continue to play in such an uncomfortable tuning, I think I'm going to be quite pleased with their future releases. I really like when a band go out of their way to sound extremely demonic, and even though FM's vocals aren't necessarily inhuman, they work well with the rest of the performance and I'm not going to count them out so soon. The formula works, and it achieves the kind of atmosphere that I'm looking for. It comes off, vile, rambunctious and completely destructive... and best of all, I'm not bored by it! Like a shot of coffee, this record is made up of compositions that would probably wake the dead (which may not bode so well for the act, considering these are occult based lyrics) and is certianly recommended, even despite it's length. It's just a taste, but it leaves us wanting more obscure and devious atmospheres from these Mexican necromancers.

(2 Tracks, 9:49)

8/10

Nuclear Chaos - Shockwave (2016)

Mexico's Nuclear Chaos have been around for a while, even known for working with David Vincent on a track by the name of “Suffocate” coming off their second full-length release, Absolution. Well, this one reminds me a little of acts like Soilwork or mid-era In Flames – it's basically modern melodic death metal and I'm not seeing a problem with that. Do we have harsh vocal growls backing a clean vocal chorus that has been accented with melodic leads? Well, yes. What about thumping bass riffs and plenty of chug? Yes, that's more or less the backbone of the cut. Would I still recommend it? Yes, absolutely. I think that fans of melodic death metal in general would find something here, regardless of the fact that the band have been compared heavily to Trivium over at Metal Archives when I would more liken them to Soilwork or mid-era In Flames as of this single. They are definitely crafting a better style of metal than In Flames are right now, I can say that much.

(1 Track, 4:03)

7/10

Death Design - Drown With Me (2016)

Finlanders Death Design have released their first single, which seems to mix a little bit of melodeath with hefty amounts of deathcore grooves along with a vocal style that isn't quite the greatest, at least for me. I just never got into the shoutier version of death grunt as much as some of the more grueling approaches, and despite the slight bits of technicality, there is little I find promising here about these guys. They might appeal to fans of more hardcore/deathcore acts, but I just don't find it's my thing. I've heard similar approaches for years, on a track that just seems to have gone in one ear and out the other. If there's any other way I can describe it, it would be that it's heavy. I mean, that's the only real thing I can think of. Janne Salminen's vocal approach gets very close to that of the dreaded gut-punch, so I don't think I'll be interested in their future efforts. I think I'll stick with Heaven Shall Burn on this style.

(1 Track, 3:35)

5/10

Rekoma - Circle Of Hate (2016)

This is the debut EP from Finnish hard rockers Rekoma and they remind me a little of acts like Ireland's Sinocence, which works for me. There also might be a tinge of Gothic rock/metal like Tiamat in there. The Sinocence influence came in for me during “Trial” with Tiamat style Goth riffs being a bit more apparent on the album's closer “Down The Drain.” Jani Redkin doesn't have the most crystalline clean vocal approach, but he does hit some hefty albeit modernized growls within the piece. Most of it really seems to revolve around the guitar work of Samuli Maunula (lead) and Arttu Korpela (rhythm) as well as the drumming of Juha Iloha which all rounds out to a very rock feel, which some occasionally heavy vocals and downtuned bass riffs courtesy of Antti Maunula. Even on chunkier cuts like the title piece, there's nothing hugely metallic about this disc and it often feels more like a hard rock disc than a metal one. It's still very good from that sort of compositional standpoint, showcasing a quintet attempting for a heavy, yet still soft enough for radio-play sound that may have taken as much of an influence from American hard rock as it did from Goth rock. There's certainly nothing wrong done here, and I think it could appeal to fans of this kind of music outside of Finland, for sure – they'll just have to be aware of a slightly different vocal approach here than you might expect from American hard rock and there's the accents, as always. Though slightly raw and tough to discern in some instances, I'd certainly like to hear Rekoma continue as there's assuredly something here in the musicianship alone.

(4 Tracks, 19:00)

7/10

Astrophobos - Enthroned In Flesh (2016)

Oddly enough, Sweden's Astrophobos are compared to Sweden's Dissection and even though I can see the resemblance, there's not much (at least from this EP) tying them to the Swedish greats. The disc offers up three cuts which do seem to offer a slightly modernized mix of melodic black metal, but not nearly as varied or structured as well as the act they are most compared to. Jonas Ehlin and Martin Andersson certainly have been studying early Dissection, with several similarities in melody but very little in the way of substance. In other words, these guys aren't doing much to really expand upon the formula in any way, shape of form. Sometimes they add groove sections with go rather well with Mikael Broman's scathing rasps, but if you compare the title track with the piece that follows right after it, “Tabula Rasa” you are pretty much listening to the same song. Fortunately things improve quite a bit with “Blood Libation” particularly during it's mid-section in which I'm certainly noticing something spectacular. But it's just not for very long. “The Cadaver Monarch” seems to add some solo sections to the disc along with a greater sense of texture and some unexpected vocal changes/effects from Broman. It's all nice and works fairly well, but there just isn't much about this that floors me. It just feels as though I've heard this sort of thing done before. Now the guys did come out with a full-length in '14 entitled Remnants Of Forgotten Horrors, so you may want to go check that one out in addition to this, just in case you haven't. Though as for Enthroned In Flesh, it is more or less a decent release that doesn't offer anything more than you might have already expected.

(4 Tracks, 20:00)

7/10

Demonomancy/Witchcraft – Archiac Remnants Of The Numinous/ At The Diabolus Hour Split EP (2016)

Here we have a split from two black/death acts, one based in Italy with the other based in Finland. We're first going to focus on Italy's Demonomancy which comes across with a powerfully warm and quite abrasive sound. The frontman's vocals don't feel too tacky either, this is an act that really seems to embody that whole spirit of death and black metal, albeit I'll say that there are more doom elements here than I've heard in lieu of black metal, making the classification a bit off. There's also a sort of classic Slayer styled solo bit on the disc, which lends even less to the kind of approach you might expect. That being said, it creates an atmosphere that I think is far more foreboding than what one might expect to be a lot of black metal blasts and tremolo-riffs holding hands with death metal in the same way that we've all heard a dozen times to say. That's not to say that it isn't that, sometimes – but it tries very hard not to be. These guys would rather groove than blast, which sets up a much different and more entertaining tempo than what I expected. That being said, I recommend the nearly nine minute title cut to “Underground Church” because the latter is just pretty much what I expected. Nothing wrong with that, but these guys have already shown me that they can do so much more than just regular old black/death.

As for the other guys, we have Finland's Witchcraft. No, not the “Witchcraft” (and seriously, bands should stop using the names of other acts that have already been signed, popularized and licensed because it is confusing as hell) you were thinking of, but a good Witchcraft nonetheless. Originally they were called Blasphemous Witchcraft, so I hope that maybe they'll decide to be that once again. Especially since they're quite good. The very intro to the piece (the title cut) actually felt like another kind of music entirely, something like mist mixed in with diabolatry as the infernal roars of the underworld erupted in much the same way they do when “Grave Immolation” soon adds instruments into the mix. The sound is awfully raw and tough to hear, but Black Moon Necromancer (of some stuff) has got an incredible vocal approach that features such a deep set of chords that I feel as if I'm not even listening to a man anymore. It's comparable to brutal death metal and works much better on the doom-influenced “Perverted Temple Of Goatsodomy” (seriously, you're playing doom riffs and calling yourself Witchcraft? Can't they sue for that?) then it does on the former, even though it still shows me a band that hasn't yet found their style, their footing and their name. Maybe after this split release they'll decide to hone in all of those things.

Both acts seem to do a pretty solid job, but because Demonomancy seem to have their shit together a little bit better, (even though I love those little keyboard atmospheres that (Blasphemous) Witchcraft perform at the beginning and end of their side of the split) I'm going to have to go with them. I feel that fans of a black and death style that don't mind more of a doom approach to the genre will find something more than those looking for just black/death. Worth giving a listen, there's some definite promise to be found here.

(5 Tracks 27:00)

7/10