Devil's Horns Zine

Interview with the amazing Greg Bennick (Trial, Bystander and so much more!!). Greg Bennick is an individual of so many talents. Incredible singer of multiple great hardcore bands-Trial, Between Earth and Sky and Bystander. He produces amazing films, he is an outstanding public speaker, a humanitarian as well as a comedian. He is articulate, funny and is passionate about things that really matter. We were privileged to speak to Greg when he recently toured Australia for his spoken word tour here.  Take the time to not only read this great interview (each answer has gems of wisdom that you should ponder IMHO) but more so; feel free to contact him if you would like to go deeper on some of the topics mentioned here and definitely look at the fantastic work he does through One Hundred for Haiti. Links at the conclusion of this interview. Greg through all his work is so inspiring and thought-provoking. Greetings Greg, It’s Mark from Devil’s Horns Zine. Thanks so mu...

Obituary interview with Donald. Obituary is absolute Death Metal royalty and their catalog is simply unbeatable. Their early stuff set the tone and changed the genre forever, but also their more recent albums are sensational as well. If you don't know their works, take a deep listen and you will be blown away. Great albums and incredible live.  We are so lucky to have this Death metal institution tour on our shores in January 2020. Get ready to be crushed, plus the amazing Wormrot are supporting....pure aggro!!!. Earlier this month, we were thrilled to chat with the insightful/warm and all-round great guy, Donald from the band. We chatted about the band's history, his own musical journey and many side tangents. Excellent chat with a chilled and informative legend. Enjoy!!!. Most importantly, the Aussie tour is close to sold out in most venues, so hit Santa up for a ticket...TODAY!!!! THEY ARE PLAYING CAUSE OF DEATH AND OTHER CLASSICS....EPIC GIG!!! ...

 Despised Icon-Purgatory album review and interview. Neither despised but without a doubt an absolute icon in the field of Deathcore. Cheesy puns aside, this is a breathtaking release of unrivaled and belligerent weight. It is extremely fierce and to create such a colossal album this far into their distinguished career is pretty damn amazing. Two albums after reforming and the world is at this band's feet. Purgatory is impeccable and magnificent. Their bio states:  Despised Icon is a Canadian deathcore band from Montreal, Quebec. Formed in 2002, the band is noted for the talent of its drummer, Alex Pelletier, whom makes frequent use of the blasting technique, as well as for its dual lead vocalists; Alex Erian and Steve Marois. Erian makes use of a mid-range growl technique while Marois performs high-pitched shrieks, deeper growled vocals and pig squeals. In April 2010, the band disbanded, but officially reformed four years later in February 2014. Beast was released ...

Fucking Violence-Ingratidao album review and interview. How do you view hardcore to be? personally, I think it needs to be aggressive and have a message. The overarching impact is a key factor and Fucking Violence is like a shotgun blast to your kneecaps my friends. Pure unadulterated audio warfare that will blow you across the room. San Paulo, Brazil is the battleground and Thiago is the battalion leader crushing all fake arse stooges. Heavy and hard as nails is the essence of this sensational release. 1054 records amazingly (yet no surprise with the incredible artists on their roster!!) secured this debut killer album from the boys from Brazil and that is one score. Because even the preview tracks didn't give a hint to how intense and brutal this album would be. This is the debut full-length album direct from the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. And we all know Brazil has always and still does give rise to the most relentless bands worldwide. And with a name like ...

Strigoi-Abandon all Faith Album review and interview. Grim and heavy is the commanding tone throughout this remarkable release. Strigoi is a band that drips into the dark side of metal. You could easily reference bands like Amebix, Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel and Amenra in the concrete foundations of this monolith of an album. But let it stand on its own merits because it is a thrilling and nasty work of art. Strigoi was formed when Greg MacKintosh (of Paradise Lost) reunited for an upcoming project with his comrade Chris Casket; who previously played with him in Vallenfyre (as well as Extreme Noise Terror) for a completely different project. All the fine-tuned skills both members have gained over their musical careers have resulted in an album that is frankly amazing, compelling and jaw-dropping. And this is their debut, now that is astonishing.  The heart of the album's sound is old school death metal with noteworthy touches of black metal, industrial and doom metal...

Diploid-Glorify album review. Music should be a richly creative construct that has depth and is not remotely throwaway. This requires specialist skillsets that draw on both life experience and the ability to transfer ideas into the chosen medium. This is why fans of extreme music (and art) have a deep connection to artists that deliver this with no bravado, just devotion, and frenzied dexterity to their craft.  Diploid is a breathtaking three-piece band that basically does what the hell it wants to. And that is not just being D.I.Y. or punk, it's fierce and utter defiance to the filth of mainstream music. Indeed they have black metal, noise, blackgaze, grind, hardcore, and even doom influences or snippets in their works. But it is how it all comes together throughout each of their releases, in the final product both as an overwhelming live performance or an album. And deliver they do, yet again with the heartstopping and breathtaking Glorify . Glorify is dark, fucked u...

King-Coldest of Cold album review. Melbourne just keeps providing some of the best bands in the entire country. King is such a clearly dominant metal force and even though it has an all-star lineup from bands like Blood Duster and Psycroptic; it reaches beyond these constraints on their second and very defined album; Coldest of Cold. It is musically brilliant as expected, but easily the sharpest and most creative band we have heard in the last decade. King exists in between subgenres, but not as a crowd pleaser, but rather a band that really, like really understands the purpose of metal. That is to create an atmosphere, a soundtrack to the harsh reality of existence and grab at your soul. Plus make you wanna rock out at its heaviness. For an album with such a grim title, (and let's be frank this is an exceptionally dark and unsettling album that is very broadly blackened metal with tons of mood and guitar wizardry) this has so much soul and groove. The moody buildups ...

Smash Your Enemies- Become Death EP review. Upstate Records yet again busting heads again. No chance of any let up on this label and this one will cure any fans of abrasive, metallic hardcore with a massive metal edge. The sheer grit of this release was awesome. Well recommended!!. Bio reads as such: Straight out of Detroit comes Smash Your Enemies; a band that has established a reputation from the hard-edged music they make and chaos that it brings. Settling no qualms made, the band has already toured the United States and Canada with only one thing in mind: destruction. Smash Your Enemies first full length "The Great Midwest Trendkill" was just the beginning.  2019 sees this band bring their brand of Murder City mentality with the gloriously evil Become Death EP. Sound-wise think of Blood for Blood meets Biohazard in a bare-knuckle brawl with Hatebreed and Sacred Reich. And that's no joke. Six tracks of extremely gritty hardcore that is very catchy and ...

Arcline-Gateway Drugs EP. Upstate Records continue to be the best American hardcore label by a mile. Arcline is a fantastic band that has existed since 2014, but a rejigged line-up sees them stronger than ever. Marty from Hoods fame is now on vocals and this lineup is solid for these five tracks of sheer hardcore perfection. Production is immense with Taylor of Nails/Twitching Tongues handling production and killing it.  It's aggressive and just heads on heavy with the clarity of my fave sxe records. The EP consists of four originals and a Warzone cover, yeah baby!!. The style is definitely a mix of old school crushing NYHC meets L.A. hardcore, which this war ensemble is based. So pretty much angry as fuck stuff with some Terror style class. This EP gives you a taste of hopefully a full album in the future. I loved the aggression, but the delivery was so perfect in every way. Riffs are plentiful and pissed off vocals carry every song in a joy-filled Merauder me...

We recently reviewed Fallbrawl's incredible album Darkness and it's a beast you definitely need on rotation. When the chance to interview this amazing band came up, we jumped at the chance. Fallbrawl is at the cutting edge of their genre and even biting into at other heavy genres. Groundbreakingly heavy and they simply demand your attention. Stefan (guitar) was great value and passionate as hell. Enjoy this wicked interview. DH-You have dropped one of the heaviest metallic hardcore/extreme metal releases in 10 years, what is the background to this album, I know the label gave you three years to refine and craft this release, we would love to hear about the inspiration and also the processes behind it. S-First off; Thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate that. You may have noticed that over the last years and the previous LP’s the metallic influence has grown constantly, leading to our release “Chaos Reigns” in 2016. With “Darkness” we basically have tried t...

 Ross the Boss interview pre-Australian Tour. Manowar has greatly influenced and been a gateway for many metal fans into our wide and varied genre. But great music is always great music and Ross the Boss lives and breathes these attributes. Ross left Manowar back in 1989, but since then has simply not wasted any time releasing fantastic albums and frankly killer live performances. Also one cannot be too Manowar centric, because Ross was in (and still is) in the mighty Dictators; a punk band that to me was always as solid as New York Dolls and The Stooges.   From this Friday, Ross the Boss band are touring New Zealand and Australia and playing the classic Manowar album Hail to England in its entirety plus other Manowar classics. Plus tracks from Ross the Boss band's solid three albums. And this writer rates them as high as the Manowar's classics, particularly the last album, By Blood Sworn . We were lucky enough to chat to this living legend and he re...