Interview

Kryptos Explains Why They're A "Force Of Danger"

Since the turn of the millenium, metal fans have been able to discover more bands from all across the globe and in turn, groups have had the opportunity to be heard by more people than ever before. Perhaps one of the most notable bands to benefit from a global metal community would be Kryptos, the quarter from Bangalore, India who have become their country's most well known, and well loved metal export.

Keeping the spirit of traditional and thrash metal alive since 1998, Kryptos has to date released five albums, with a sixth, "Force Of Danger," set to be unleashed on October 1st through AFM Records. The band has been able to break down barriers and become heroes for young metalheads in India and with their new album displaying a fiercer Kryptos than ever before, their reputation will only become bigger and more positive. To find out more about "Force Of Danger," Kryptos' long relationship with AFM Records, how the pandemic affected them and what it's like to be a metal band in India, we caught up with vocalist/guitarist Nolan Lewis. You can watch the interview in full below.

Diamond Oz: The new album, "Force Of Danger" is out very soon. It’s definitely an appropriate title for Kryptos, given that the band has always been a high energy force…

Nolan Lewis: And we get a bit dangerous when we drink too much! (laughs)

Oz: Well, for you, what does the title mean?

Nolan: It doesn't really mean too much. It’s kind of inspired by eighties and nineties sci-fi action movies such as Escape From New York and things like that. So it's kind of like, when you hear all this ominous sci-fi music and you see the bad guys showing up with guns, that kind of sounds like a force of danger and that title always kind of stuck in my head. I thought, "I need to use this as an album title or for a song one day." We actually got the artwork before we named the album and once we got the artwork I was like, "Yeah, I need to put this title in there!"

Oz: Speaking of the art, it does look very cool. How satisfied were you with it and who came up with it?

Nolan: It was done by a good friend from Visual Amnesia. He did the initial art, which actually didn't really look like what it does now. He’s the one behind the figure, but he gave us a very plain background with blue sky and stuff, which was kind of weird, like the Terminator was going to a picnic or something! We were already working with another artist from Colombia, she was designing our booklet and sleeve and everything. So we just asked her if she could touch it up. She understood what kind of theme we were going for and she did the background, gave it kind of an 80s sci-fi finish. So it was a combination of both really.

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Be'lakor Posts New Single "Foothold" Online

After flooring fans new and old with the release of "Hidden Window," the legends of progressive death metal Be'lakor are back with their staggering second single "Foothold," taken from their long-awaited new album "Coherence," out October 29th via Napalm Records!

The deep, powerful vocals of George Kosmas unite with a keen sense for captivating, atmospheric and multi-faced compositions. "Foothold" appears as another gem of Progressive Death Metal, proving Be'lakor’s great ambitions to push their boundaries further once more.

Steve Merry (piano/synths) from Be'lakor about "Coherence":
"We're excited to share this album after five years of quite intense work on it. It's pushed us in many ways. Coherence has two of our longest ever songs; it has some really substantial instrumental tracks; it's heavy and progressive in places, but still full of the melody that drives our work. The album's lyrics also explore quite different ideas to those of our earlier albums. We look forward to working with Napalm Records on this release and sharing this music with our fans!" More...

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Extinction A.D. Signs With Unique Leader

Unique Leader has announced the signing of Long Island, US metal band Extinction A.D. and the release of new EP Chaos, Collusion, Carnage & Propaganda, out 5th November.

Pre-order and save here. The band have also revealed their first single from the record, "Chaos," which can be seen below.

On the signing the band comment: "We’re extremely psyched as hell to be working with Unique Leader Records. We may have cut our teeth in the hardcore and punk world and will always feel like we belong there, but the metal world is our home and this is a huge step in the right direction for us."

"Chaos, Collusion, Carnage & Propaganda" is the first new music from the band since 2018's full-length "Decimation Treaty," and features a cover of the Sepultura classic 'Propaganda'.

On the new EP, they continue: "While the music world stood still throughout the COVID lockdown, the real world moved on in so many crazy ways and that's what spawned this EP. People showed their true colors, both corporate and authoritarian powers exerted more control, lives were lost, brains were softened and both tension and anger mounted. That gave us an even more visceral sound than ever on 'Chaos, Collusion, Carnage and Propaganda.'" More...

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The Ocean Reveals New Live Album Details

Berlin-based progressive metal act The Ocean present an unusual live album. One that is a testimony of strange times: their Phanerozoic concept album performed live in its entirety at a time when no shows were happening anywhere in the World.

Check out the live version of "Devonian: Nascent“ below. Metal Blade Records will release Phanerozoic Live digitally worldwide on November 26th, and fans can pre-order physical copies in various formats via Pelagic Records here.

On September 25, 2020, in the middle of the global pandemic, The Ocean released their 9th studio album "Phanerozoic II," the concluding episode of a conceptual trilogy that began with "Precambrian" 13 years before – and even without any touring to support the new album release, "Phanerozoic II" entered the official German album charts at #9. With no end of lockdowns in sight, the band decided to thank their fans for the support with two streaming concerts, performing both "Phanerozoic" albums in their entirety: Phanerozoic I was streamed live from Pier 2, a big hall in the port of Bremen, on March 25, 2021. With more than 1.500 tickets sold, it was the most successful show of the popular “Club 100” streaming events series thus far.

The day after this event, the band retreated to synth player and sound designer Peter Voigtmann's rural studio “Die Mühle”, just outside of Bremen. Here, the band rehearsed and recorded "Phanerozoic II" in its entirety during the following three days. The performance aired on April 16 as part of the digital edition of Roadburn Festival, this year abtly named Roadburn Redux. Both shows couldn't have been more different: where the first part boasts with a pompous, mesmerizing lighting production on a big stage, the 2nd part is quite the opposite: intimate, almost cosy, focused on musicianship rather than performance. A stripped down setup in a dark barn, with moody, minimal but not any less efficient lighting. "We wanted to give people two totally different experiences," says band leader Robin Staps. "In Bremen, we had the chance to record a proper Ocean live show, the way people know us. We played facing towards the front of the stage, to an invisible crowd, essentially to a huge empty room... but we knew people were watching, even if we didn't see them. There was the same rush of adrenaline right before going on stage as you get before going on at any big open air festival... maybe with a little extra anxiety added, because knowing that so many people are watching you without being able to see them yourself was super weird."

Despite these surreal circumstances, The Ocean's performance in Bremen felt like a real live show, for everyone watching: the energy spilled over to thousands of people from all over the world watching from their homes, who clotted the band's instagram story with hundreds of shares and comments. The crazy response was another testimony to how much we were all missing live music at this time: to watch a band connect with their crowd at home in this very intense way was an experience that was oddly beautiful and frustrating in equal measure. After this special and invigorating experience, it was clear that the 2nd part had to be intentionally different. "We wanted to do something more cinematic visually, and at the same time more intimate, we wanted to capture the feeling of the 6 of us in a relatively small, confined space, facing each other, in a circle... without the crowd playing any role or being any part of this equation," says Staps. "It was March and the room that we spent the whole day in was cold, but that was part of the vibe. We had to warm up our fingers constantly."

Much like the first part, the band performed the album live, all together in one room, several times during one long day. The best take was chosen, then mixed by long term live sound engineer Chris Edrich. Dana Schecter (Swans, Insect Ark) created animations of the iconic “collision” motive of the Phanerozoic II album art, specifically for the premiere at Roadburn Festival 2 weeks later, where it aired on Friday night as the highlight and headlining act of the band's own Pelagic Records showcase. The logistics and preparations for these two events were as challenging as one can imagine: bass player Mattias Hägerstrand flew in from Stockholm and had to quarantine in Berlin before rehearsals. None of the band members (or anyone their age group, for that matter) was vaxxed at that time, and before the Bremen event the entire band and crew were tested outside of the venue, before anyone was allowed to enter. Masks had to be worn at all times until show start, even during soundcheck.

"Phanerozoic Live" is a live album like no other – it is a live album that was recorded in a cultural vacuum, a bizarre time that we will remember for the rest of our lives: a time when the world as we knew it suddenly stopped spinning. It is a live album that does without all the qualities that we usually appreciate about a live album: without the sounds of a cheering, exited crowd. But it is the very absence of this, it is the eerie silence between the songs that reminds us of what we miss most, and that gives these recordings a rare intensity and power. More...

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Beyond All Misery Premiere New Single

Vicksburg, Michigan-based blackened deathcore band Beyond All Misery premiere a new single by the name of “Killing Spree” streaming for you below.

Line-up: More...

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Exclusive

Monument Of Misanthropy Premiere New Track

Aborted frontman Sven de Caluwé guests on Monument Of Misanthropy’s new single “Miami Vice - Miami Gold”. You can check out the track and a new visualizer clip for it streaming via YouTube for you below:

The song is taken from Monument Of Misanthropy’s impending new album "Unterweger", which will be released by Transcending Obscurity Records November 12th, 2021.

Pre-orders for the album and the brand new killer merch can be purchased HERE.

Says frontman George "Misanthrope" Wilfinger about the track: More...

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