Dísablót - Demo review and Interview 
Done By Lvcivs N. Antonivs
Feb. 5, 2014  Rapid City, South Dakota.




("Rapid City, South Dakota.") Seated against "the eastern slope of the Black Hills mountains", this charming little mountain city is host and/or neighbor to a myriad of attractions (That big hill with the heads of those dead dudes carved into the side, about a billion state parks, and those fuckers on the motorcycles who won't go home for an entire week, etc.). With all that traffic it's easy to see how slow driving tourists going to Mount Rushmore, herds of bikers during Sturgis, and all the other out-of-townies using up the oxygen can drive one to misanthropy and so on. It is here in the scenic (and appropriately titled in this instance) "Gateway to the Black Hills" that this disdain for humanity has materialized itself in the form of Dísablót. In a town with at least seven christian radio stations that's in the heart of a land known for the genocide of the native tribes by, shall we say "tourists", all one can say is, "We should have seen this coming." And come it has! Those of the mighty Cult of Grey Light are upon you!!!
      It is with dark hailz and a great honor that this author raises his horns (and pen for the first time) to this new horde of blackened daemons! With a current three song release on Stillborntwins Records that will beat you senseless, leaving you for dead on a frozen mountain full of shitty sight seers, Dísablót is not to be trifled with. Bearing a sound that can be compared to the likes of Dark Throne, Leviathan, and Nargaroth, these South Dakotan natives have tapped in to the unforgiving current of pure raw black metal!
     The opening track "Immolation" wastes no time with introductions, ripping in to a death march of double bass and icy tremolo picking until vocals from the pits of hell are unleashed upon you. It is at this point that excessive headbanging, horns, and hand claws are appropriate (hellish rituals in the dead of night will also suffice.) The onslaught continues with "The Return", an approximately four minute assault on the senses that is almost trance inducing, pulling you in to the sweet, spiraling embrace of bitter darkness. The final track in this sonic journey takes us to the realm of Lord Foul, with a superb cover of "I Burn For You". The slower tempo of this last offering is a perfect end to this diabolical sampling of sounds, leaving the listener begging for more. But let not my words alone do the talking, for it is here and now (and on Facebook) that you can experience the unholy gospel of The Grey Light from the horde themselves. In the words of vocalist/guitarist JFM, I give you Dísablót!!!




                                                                         

1. Enlighten us as to how Dísablót got it's start and where do you hail from?






Dísablót started back in the Fall of 2011. My bassist and I were hanging out and realized we were both into black metal and wanted to start a black metal band since we didn't know of any here in Rapid City, South Dakota.





2. Is there a specific meaning behind the name "Dísablót"?






The word Dísablót is an old Germanic ritual. The "blót" is a holiday or ritual and "dísa" is added to pertain to the winter.






3. Give us a rundown of your current line up. Have there been any member changes since the birth of Dísablót?







The lineup has been relatively stable. The only real difference is that I started doing vocals instead of the bassist. I'm fortunate enough to be friends with dedicated musicians.



                                                                           

4. In terms of influences, who ignited your passions as musicians and what inspired you to start playing black metal?






As far as individual musicians go: Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, KK Warslut, Nocturno Culto, and Satanic Tyrant Werewolf. All are either talented frontmen or people who are great at writing music. As for bands, it's definitely Darkthrone, Sargeist, Satanic Warmaster, and Nargaroth.




                                                                          


5. ·I noticed that there aren't very many pictures of the band. Do you aim for as few pics of the band as possible? Also, does Dísablót don corpse paint live? If not, why for?






Corpse paint has never really been on our agenda. Our bassist wears it on occasion but me and the drummer have never really bothered, though that might change. The reasoning is pretty simple: to me, corpse paint only looks good with either long hair or no hair. I don't like how corpse paint looks on shorter hair. We don't really do band pictures mainly because we figured we would just be some local band that wouldn't really go anywhere and the people who went to our shows would already know us. Also, it goes with keeping as little information about us as possible.








6. Are there any ideologies or messages that you aim to express with Dísablót?




                                                                         

Nothing in particular. Each individual song focuses on something that fascinates me, though. Whether it be a story of an author, a historical event, or even just a fucked up movie. (Our song "Immolation" is inspired by a scene from Prometheus, for example.)







7. Wanna go burn a church?!?!







I call dibs on taking pictures and using them as an album cover.



                                                                           

 8. Name some of the bands you have shared the stage with. Any big/well known names?






Well, there's Woman is the Earth from here. The music scene here kinda sucks so we don't get an opportunity to play good shows too often. Another great local band I enjoy playing shows with is Pandemic. Nobody too well known, though, at least not yet.







 9. Now that you have released a three song demo (which is bad ass by the way!), what are your plans for future recordings?







Well, sometime in February we'll be releasing a split with Tower of Nihasa, a band me and all the guys from Dísablót are involved in. After that we have another split with the band Aatsel later this year and sometime next year we plan on recording a good sized EP. Of course, things change and life happens so that's all subject to change. I would really like to record a lo-fi demo in the vein of LLN bands between the second split and the EP or after. We'll see.








10. You have just recently signed to Stillborntwins Records. Congratulations! How did this come to be and do you have any plans to try and sign with a larger label in the future?



                                                                                

I was talking to Jason on his Crowfather page on Facebook and he hit me up with what was an unreleased song at the time. I thought it was pretty cool and sent him one of my own unreleased songs. He thought it was bad ass so he asked us if we wanted to be on Stillborntwins.








11. I see that you're on the bill for Hell Over Iowa 2. Did you play last years HOI fest?




                                                                            

Event link   
   https://www.facebook.com/events/683731988305293/



Unfortunately we did not. I met Chris Hick after the lineup was solidified.






12. On which day will you be performing at HOI 2 and do you plan on playing anywhere else while you're away from home?







We're on for Day 2 I believe. After the festival we have plans to play in Sioux Falls on our way back. Of course some day we want to find our way to Denver. Ya never know.









 13. Will there be any Dísablót merch at HOI 2 that we should save up for?! Shirts, patches, cd's/tapes/vinyls?










Definitely. All of our releases, a few shirts, and shit, maybe even coozies.




                                                                                     

14. Seriously, wannna go incinerate some churches?!?! I'm free on Sundays!!!








Fuck yeah. I'm down. Shit, since Nefirum is playing at HOI, we should get everyone together and have a nice church barbecue.







15. Is there anything else you would like the readers out there to know about Disablot?








There really isn't a whole lot I can say about us. We prefer to stay away from letting too much information out.





-And there ya have it folks! If you haven't checked these dudes out, then you need to. Their demo is available for free download on their Facebook page just in case you didn't know. And for those of you who will be attending Hell Over Iowa 2, give these daemons some support while they're out kicking ass on the road! Its going to be a killer weekend of underground metal and Dísablót will surely be one NOT to miss! See you in the pit fuckers! HAILZ!!! \,,/ -Lvcivs N. Antonivs

USBMS would like to thank Dísablót for their time!!




For band contact and info visit
https://www.facebook.com/Disablot
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/D%C3%ADsabl%C3%B3t/3540348195

                                                                                   

Interview with Minenwerfer

                                                                  

Interview done by:
Daemon Black



USBMS would like to thank Minenwefer for this interview.

1.Can we start off by having you introduce our readers to the members of the band and there roles within Minenwerfer?

Generalfeldmarschall Kriegshammer - Bass/Vocals
Wachtmeister Verwüstung - Guitars
Oberst Gemetzel - Drums

 

2. Give us a bit of  history on when and how the band got started and the meaning behind the band name?

 

The band started as a solo project of Kriegshammer's in 2007, eventually it just evolved into a real band. 'Minenwerfer' means 'mine thrower' in German. Essentially it was a trench mortar used extensively in the First World War.

 

 

                                                                          

3.The WW1 concept is not as widely focused on in the metal genre as opposed to WW2 themes, explain to us how the band choose this particular war theme as a backdrop for the music of Minenwerfer? 

 

The decision for a WWI theme was due to WWII being represented enough already. WWI seems more or less forgotten, and so we decided to focus on this era. It was a time of emperors and empires, new technology, and is just as interesting and important as the war following it.

 

 

4.You guys have an excellent forum up about WW1 history topics and discussions, Tell us who is the War buff within the band or do all members share the same enthusiasm about this era of war?

 

 The forum has been dead for a few years, and didn't really lead to any insightful discussion. Then again, our fanbase is made up of black metal fans, so I suppose that's the reason why. Kriegshammer is responsible for the themes of the band. He has a BA in History.

 

 

                                                                                 



5. What are some of the bands you guys grew up listening to, did they at all influence your decisions to play music, also do you draw any inspirations for your music outside of the Metal genre at all?

                                                                 



We all grew up listening to different things, but eventually found our way to Black and Death metal. We all have different influences though, Oberst Gemetzel's influences are mainly Death Metal for instance, while the other guys are pretty well rooted in Black Metal and Thrash. There are plenty of influences besides metal that can be found in Minenwerfer's music. Neo-folk, martial industrial, and classical musical all have left their mark on Kriegshammer, leading to it being incorporated into our sound.

 

 

                                                                         

6. Lets talk a bit about the creation of your music are the lyrics written first or is the music composed prior to writing lyrics? 








Music is composed first with the general idea of what topics the lyrics will reflect.

 

 

7.You guys have a pretty extensive discograpghy dating back to 2007 consisting of a few demos, a single, an EP and a copule of full lengths, Can you tell how has the music changed over the years and has it evolved the way you guys had envisioned when first starting the band?

 

 The early demos were recorded before Minenwerfer could be considered a serious project. The early stuff was just for fun, with a lot of poorly written German, until Volkslieder when the band became serious. Stylistically the music has changed a bit from the early demos. A lot more effort and time is put into the songwriting, and of course with the entrance of new members into the band, more changes became welcome. 

 

 

 

8. How has the feed back from people been about Minenwerfer's most recent release "Nihilistischen", and how did the relationship with Christian Annihilation come about and were you satisfied with the distribution of the release?

 

Most people seem to have enjoyed the album. To us, there is a lot wrong with it, as it could have been much better. It suffers from weak production, and some German that could have been translated better, but we think the songs hold up pretty well. Christian Annihilation kind of just promoted our self-release. At this time, there is no true official release of Nihilistischen through any label, and is the album is currently out of print.  Those people that got the self-release are pretty lucky to have even got one of those.

 

 

                                                                           

9.Is there any interest in you guys by any labels at this time or are there any current deals in the works?

 

No label seems to want to pick us up. Much of our material ends up being released in very limited quantities though various small labels that have been willing to do so, but we haven't had any luck securing any label support. We figure that most labels think our subject matter is questionable or too dangerous or something, so they distance themselves from us. At the moment we have a release of Nihilistischen coming out on cassette through Satanik Wolfchamber Productions. We have two different splits with possible label backing that have yet to be negotiated. Our new EP that we are in the midst of finishing up recording has no backing of any kind though, and will most likely end up being a self-release due to that, but we'll see what happens.

 

10. A lot of times bands who choose to use WW2 or WW1 topics and themes in their music often get labeled racist, fascist or an NSBM band. I read somewhere that you guys have had to deal with this issue and at times have been labeled NSBM. My question is, how has Minenwerfer handled this issue, also do you guys have an opinion on whether or not NSBM should be associated with the BM music genre?

 

 Most people are ignorant and jump to conclusions, especially if the see an iron cross, eagles, etc. in the imagery of a band. In the past, various allegations have led Kriegshammer writing various blogs and postings defending the band and the imagery, and usually some sort of background on the symbols or flags being used. It isn't our fault that most people don't know history, and are (especially in America) uneducated or undereducated. Then again, if our subject matter did have to do with WWII, that doesn't mean we condone the actions of the past. Why does a band like Hail of Bullets or Marduk get to write song after song about Rommel and panzer divisions, yet no one thinks anything of it? As far as NSBM goes, we're not a part of it, but believe that whatever a band wants to say in their music is their own prerogative.

 

 

 

11. How is the black metal community in Sacramento are there decent venues to play, and how is support for metals of all genres in your area all around ?

 

                                                                                    

 The black metal community in Sacramento is pretty pathetic honestly. There are a handful of bands of varying quality, and about the same 8 to 14 people that come out to every show. We don't really play hometown shows anymore, because we feel it's not worth the effort, especially when we have to work all day. We have about 3 venues that we can play here, and that's about it. Metal in general is not really Sacramento's strong point. Sac is kind of a cesspit, if you started here, you're lucky if you make it out.

 

 

 

12. How would you guys best explain a live performance by Minenwerfer for someone who has never seen you live before?

 

 We play pretty raw as a power trio. Usually flags, bullet belts, and helmets are around the stage. We try to be as loud and dirty as we can, coming from the Motorhead school of thought.

 

 

13. Were there any goals set by the band when you guys started out, have you reached those goals yet and give us idea of what Minenwerfer would like to be best known for in the long history of Black Metal?

 

                                                                           

There weren't really any goals when we've started out. As time has progressed we've set out to do more, but have had various obstacles in our way hindering us from our true potential. Despite this, we've managed to continually keep on going.

We don't really care if we're remembered for anything. Hopefully we'll inspire some people to open up a book about the First World War and try to understand what this period of time has done in the scope of our history.

 

 

 

14. What can people expect from Minenwerfer in 2014? 

 

 Hopefully two splits, an EP, and a cassette rerelease. We have a couple of shows booked for the Spring so far. We'll continue to work on more new material as well. Hopefully our other band, Chronaexus will also be working on the material for our 3rd full-length album also.

 

 

 

15. Are there any final words that you guys would to say to our readers before we finish up this interview?

Thanks to USBMS. All updates and contact info can be found at http://minenwerfer.blogspot.com/


Minenwerfer's FB and Bandcamp links
https://www.facebook.com/minenwerfer
http://minenwerfer.bandcamp.com/