Devil's Horns Zine

Interview with The Hu pre-Download Australia 2020. The HU is a band from Mongolia that blends hard rock and traditional Mongolian throat singing.  Their first two videos Yuve Yuve Yu and Wolf Totem immediately went viral garnering the band over 30 million views. The explosive reaction to The HU resulted in enthusiastic coverage from media all over the world.  Together they create rock music with traditional Mongolian instrumentation such as the Morin Khuur (horsehead fiddle), Tovshuur (Mongolian guitar), Tumur Khuur (jaw harp), guttural throat singing built around the pillars of heavy rock: distorted guitars, bombastic drums, and aggressive rhythms.  What makes this band so damn original is their overall sound combines regional traditional music that loosely sounds like folk crossed with blues mixed with very strong metal and rock influences. It simply cannot be compared to any other band. Plus it rocks damn hard. So when we had the chance to in...

Verano's Dogs -Summoning the Hounds album review. So glad this band found me. Old School Death Metal greatness. Think old Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Repulsion and you are in the right zone. Yes, a sick arse band from Rome that has a perfect album of crushing death grind. No bullshit music that makes you want to mosh and headbang. Ripping tunes, sick arse vocals and the whole album has a dog theme. Fuck yes!!!! Verano’s Dogs is born in Rome at the end of 2015 aiming to mix the first grindcore tradition with the most funereal death metal. The band’s moniker is linked twice to the world of cemeteries: Verano is the most famous graveyard in Rome and for some beliefs, dog is the animal that brings dead souls to the afterworld. It is heavy, pretty thrashy and every track is well written. Production was nice and crunchy. The album is addictive from the first track and never dull. I really dug the dual vocals effect on most songs, the riffs were fast and abrasive. So everything...

Morphine-Dysphoria album review. Morphine is a crushing depressive suicidal black metal band that is grim and uplifting at the same time. Basically taking the best of original black metal and amping up the atmospheric bleakness to ten. Also skipping the hidden or veiled racist rhetoric masked in some shitty black metal and addressing issues of sexual politics/identity as the artist refers to: " The torture of transitioning" Indeed as this zine always states, music having lyrics and content with depth should never be a second or forgotten choice. The sheer rawness of emotion here is clear cut and anyone who has worked with people experiencing gender identity issues knows how dark the unease and mental discomfort can be for some individuals. Thus this music is a great fit for the somber tone evidenced by this band. The music is well written, not dull and it's 23 mins of foreboding, heavy as fuck well crafted extreme metal. Deeply atmospheric, a touch blackgazy bu...

Orbiter-The Deluge EP review. BIO: The Finnish doom metal band Orbiter released their debut EP The Deluge on Wednesday, 29 January. The four-song EP is a blend of heavy riffing, atmospheric psychedelia, and soaring vocals. The central theme of the record is human nature and its contradictions: over and over again people's aspirations towards wisdom are in danger of being drowned under the waves of their own greed. The EP has been mastered by Brad Boatright (Audiosiege), one of the most renowned mastering engineers in the industry worldwide. Refreshing as fuck to hear doom metal that doesn't bore me. There is definitely some Sabbath-love here, but so much more on the epic release. Vocally so many peaks with an almost Hole/RiotGrrl anger underpinning groovy and well-placed changes. Orbiter has all the buzzy riffs you could possibly want with lovely grunge/blues influences making this a standout in a field of dull clones. All four tracks were catchy and really stimulating...

Fawn Limbs-Their Holes Aroused by the Splinters Carved From Their Teeth review. Hectic release title, but it matches the nasty and fierce intent of the release. The transatlantic mathgrind/noise trio Fawn Limbs formed during the summer of 2018 by Eeli Helin (Mireplaner) and Lee Fisher (ex-Psyopus, Commit Suicide), releasing three EPs during the autumn/winter of that year; ’Towing Heads’ in August, ’Languor’ in November, and ’Thrum’ in December. Starting 2019 with a single ”Love Will Strangle You Forever”, the band tapped Samuel Smith (Artificial Brain, Aeviterne, Luminous Vault) to bass and released their first full-length ’Harm Remissions’ in August this year. Based in Finland, Pennsylvania, and New York, the trio’s currently working on a studio band basis. We have six tracks of brutal and rollercoaster-like mathgrind gold, it's all very quick but what a journey. Definitely worth your time if you seek your eardrums to be battered. Yes, it's heavy but also clever as hell...

Reptile Mountain-Oracle album review. Reptile Mountain is an instrumental post-rock/metal band from Seinäjoki, Finland. Gathering influences from anything between movie soundtracks to psychedelic rock and darkest aural severities. This was a pleasant surprise indeed. One for moody walks in a forest or basically blocking out annoying co-workers. Grim, but atmospheric as fuck. Great production and well-written songs. Clever, gripping and damn awesome. New release pending for this year. Incredible album. https://reptilemountain.bandcamp.com/

The primal chaos and abrasive brilliance of Venom Prison. Interview with Ash pre-Download Australia 2020 gigs. Venom Prison is a hardcore influenced death metal band from South Wales, United Kingdom. Their second album Samsara was released on March 16, 2019. The band released their demo Defy the Tyrant and EP The Primal Chaos in 2015, releasing their debut full-length album Animus in 2016 through Prosthetic Records. Animus was pure intent and perfection in hardcore influenced death metal with compelling and heartfelt topical lyrics. Both music and themes covered in this classic release were so well crafted with such skill that only comes with real-life experience; both personal and as musicians who have done the hard yards. The key to this album is it is so damn raw, yet perfectly produced. It is eardrum-shattering, but the rollercoaster song structures and gripping tone of the release are unparalleled for a debut album. On top of the sheer fierceness of the mus...

Clutch interview with Dan Maines on the eve of their exclusive appearance at Download Australia 2020. "WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR HIGHLY ANTICIPATED 12TH STUDIO ALBUM, THE GLORIOUSLY TITLED ‘BOOK OF BAD DECISIONS’, IT WOULD BE EASY TO SUGGEST THAT LEGENDARY MARYLAND ROCKERS CLUTCH HAVE MADE THEIR FINEST RECORD TO DATE. THIS MAY EVEN BE TRUE. YOU SEE, THE THING ABOUT CLUTCH IS THAT EVER SINCE THEIR 1993 DEBUT TRANSNATIONAL SPEEDWAY LEAGUE THEY'VE BEEN IN THE BUSINESS OF WRITING STONE COLD CLASSICS, AND EVEN THE MOST RABID FAN WOULD HAVE TROUBLE PICKING JUST ONE. ‘BOOK OF BAD DECISIONS’ WON'T MAKE THAT TASK ANY EASIER. REST ASSURED, IT'S ANOTHER CLASSIC" Bio's can be a fickle thing; often full of false analogies and untruths. No there is no doubt that Clutch is a certified hard-rocking institution that does their job so proficiently and always exceeding all expectations. Every album not only has multi-layered influences, but you are always guaranteed a...

Baroness interview with Seb Thomson on the eve of their Australian Download 2020 performance. “Fifteen years after releasing their first EP, Grammy-nominated exploratory rock band  Baroness  spill triumphantly past genre barriers, their anthemic alt-metal hooks ricocheting between the circuitous twists of prog and jazz, the moody swirls of space-rock and noise, and the hypnotic pulses of trip-hop and 20th Century minimalism.” This colorful excerpt from their bio really sets the stage for killer performances at Download Australia 2020 plus an amazing sideshow supporting Deftones in Brisbane.  Five albums; Red Album (2007), Blue Record (2009), Yellow & Green (2012), Purple (2015) and Gold & Grey (2019) all absolute quality and all offering different elements for your ears and soul. If you even remotely dig brilliance in the landscape of sludge, doom, prog, alternative or straight-up metal, you need to go deep on this band. The song structures ...

Integrity interview with Dwid on the eve of their Australian Tour. True creatives and artisans make art and music for themselves. It may reflect some internal belief or struggle or perhaps dismay at the external world, but it’s always personal. The message should be interpreted by the senses of the audience and not guided by the artist. Integrity is a definitive landmark band because they defy all genres and still produces albums that challenge you on every level. And this, unfortunately, is rare in the age of bands simply playing it safe. Integrity combines art, music and a grim mystique to a style that can only be deemed as heavy as fuck. Known for being one of the most incendiary and influential bands in hardcore and modern metal history, apocalyptic heavy music icons INTEGRITY finally are touring Australia this month. Their catalog is simply unbeatable with classic albums like Those Who Fear Tomorrow, Systems Overload, Humanity is the Devil, Seasons in the Size of Days an...