This October three of the UK’s ascending, incendiary and much talked about NWOCR bands The Soul Revival, Revenant, and We Three Kings take to the road shoulder to shoulder for a special trio of shows in The Valknut Tour. Each band will be headlining their local grassroots venue, tickets are on sale now for what […]
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Dead Sleep return with a sharper, more stripped-down attack on Repulsion, an EP that trades ornamentation for instinct and discomfort. In this conversation, Anna Wagner talks about moving away from metal clichés, embracing a more primitive sound, and why authenticity – not image – remains the only thing that actually matters.
Hi there! Compared to your earlier material, Repulsion feels uglier in a very deliberate way. Did you consciously want the EP to hit harder emotionally rather than just faster or heavier?
Yes, we deliberately wanted to go for a darker and more sinister direction this time, both lyrically and soundwise. Our new format as a trio also means that we have to “cut the frills” and not make ourselves too dependent on fancy solos and stuff that we can’t reproduce in a live setting. So we tuned down our instruments and have tried to find a more instinctual, primitive attack in our songs.
There’s a strong thread of defiance running through these songs, but it never turns into slogans or easy empowerment. Was avoiding that simplicity important to you?
If there is one thing I personally am totally bored with in lyrics, it is when cliches are used lazily and without deliberation. Just resorting to the over-used symbols of death and destruction, like skulls, corpses and blood, in the end these just end up being empty words. But when you start to think about the real implications of death and war, you end up in more personal territory: loss, fear, madness, desperation, abandonment – clearly in the emotional sphere and often an area that is heavily guarded within the depths ourselves. We need to lift that lid if we want to find out more about the mysteries of life and death. And these feelings often turn out to be very complex, contradictory and not easily reduced into slogans.
Lilith and other historical or mythical women appear almost like shadows across the EP. What drew you toward those figures specifically?
Well, I think that metal has always been a boys’ club and has systematically ignored the female experience and has only focused on the symbolism of man as a harbinger of death and destruction. That does leave a large portion of the human experience undiscovered and there is a rich tradition of female characters in both fiction and history that have gone against the church (or even God in the case of Lilith) and transgressed their assigned gender roles as mothers and nurturers through sometimes killing for revenge, for vanity, for convenience – and I think these characters are very interesting to explore.
A lot of thrash still leans on aggression as performance, while Repulsion feels more personal and confrontational. Did the writing come from a different headspace this time?
As previously mentioned, our music has changed a bit since becoming a threepiece. Even though we still have thrash at our center, we have let ourselves be influenced by other genres, like first wave black metal, to channel a more instinctual and primitive approach. And lyrically, our last two albums dealt with the outside world: capitalism and the overtaking of our corporate-driven world by “naked tyrants” such as Trump etc. Thematically we wanted to go inward this time, so we don’t become too much of a cliché ourselves!
The EP sounds raw without feeling nostalgic about being raw. Do you think old-school metal sometimes becomes too obsessed with recreating the past instead of using that energy for something new?
Absolutely. There are many tropes you can use to fit into a neat musical label, but where is the fun in that? I don’t think being nostalgic is necessarily a bad thing, but I think we could allow ourselves to trust our instincts a little more. Letting our music be tarnished by all the grit we have lived through will only make the music more personal and give it a reason to exist.
As a trio, the band sounds meaner and more direct now. Did stripping things down make the music feel more exposed?
In a way it does. To a certain extent one has to compensate for the lack of a second guitar through being even more ferocious in one’s playing. So it’s a little more naked, not so much to hide behind. But the trio format also helps us be distinct and tight.
There’s a punk attitude in Dead Sleep that feels instinctive rather than aesthetic. Do you still feel connected to punk as a mindset, or mostly as an energy source?
Speaking only for myself, I will probably always be a punk at heart. For me punk means freedom of expression rather than being a perfect musician. So yes, I guess it’s part of a Dead Sleep mindset and not only something that is used as a source of energy.
The title Repulsion can mean disgust, rejection, resistance, even attraction pushed too far. What did that word hold for you when it became the center of the EP?
It’s a powerful word. Marcus named the track originally, even before the lyrics were written. As you mention, it is a word that contains contradictions in itself, which makes it a more interesting word than for instance “hate”. It’s a feeling that connects to our physical instincts rather than the intellect, a subliminal impulse that we don’t necessarily have control over.
A lot of underground metal still struggles with how women are perceived once they stop fitting expected roles. Did writing these lyrics feel confrontational, cathartic, or just brutally honest?
As you mention, women have mainly been described as very one-dimensional characters in metal music, they are either victims of male violence or simply sex objects. So I think any lyrics describing women as anything else, like strong individuals with agency and their own convictions and selfish desires, will be a bit confrontational against the status quo. And yes, that is a very cathartic thing, to try to understand these vilified women and channel them and their experiences through music.
There’s a feeling throughout the EP that anger is being used as survival rather than spectacle. Do you think heavy music sometimes forgets the difference?
Yes, I think anger in metal often is performative. And it just doesn’t hit as hard. If you don’t have anything to be angry about, why are you screaming your lungs out? Don’t get me wrong, I think most of us HAVE something to be angry about – I mean, just look at the world – but you need to tap into that emotion for it to come across as valid and not just a pose.
The underground metal scene often romanticizes rebellion while still policing who gets accepted. Have you felt that contradiction personally as a band?
Our band has never really been accepted in the metal community for various reasons, so yes I know what you mean. On the other hand, we are snobs too, and wouldn’t be caught dead playing with certain bands, so I just think it’s probably one of those things within the extreme metal scene. It goes with the territory, since it’s such a competitive field – fraught with the double heavy burden of having to be authentic AND technically well played. There are an awful amount of rules around a genre that pretends to be about rebellion.
At this point, what matters more to Dead Sleep: sounding authentic to yourselves, or sounding dangerous to everyone else? Thank you!
Haha, that is a bit of a leading question – of course it is more important to feel authentic. I think there are many bands out there that might do a good job of sounding dangerous, but there is only one band that can sound like Dead Sleep, so we better keep at it!
https://deadsleepmalmo.bandcamp.com/music
Darwin metalcore unit KOH are stepping out with the debut EP in July, but ahead of that the lads have previewed the release with new track Blasphemous.
After impressing audiences with supports to bands like Justice of the Damned, Diamond Construct and a blistering set at last year’s Blacken Open Air, KOH will drop Golden Death on July 1. This weekend they are appearing at Terror Loud at the Gateway with Reliqa, Bitterkind, Tariot and more.
In a night that will be etched into metal history, Sepultura concluded the North American leg of their Celebrating Life Through Death farewell tour with a massive surprise. During their sold-out show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, the band was joined by rock icon and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl for a thunderous rendition of the 1993 classic, “Kaiowas.”
The collaboration saw Grohl returning to his roots behind the percussion, adding his legendary energy to the tribal anthem from the Chaos A.D. era. The atmosphere was electric as the crowd witnessed the meeting of two musical powerhouses, marking a poignant moment in Sepultura’s final journey across the globe.
As of June 1, Sepultura officially transitions to the European leg of their farewell tour, kicking off with major festival appearances across the continent. This final run is not just a tour, but a celebration of over 40 years of heavy metal dominance that put Brazil on the global map of extreme music.
The band has also recently confirmed their final ever show, set for November in São Paulo, Brazil. For fans in North America, the Los Angeles show—bolstered by Grohl’s appearance—served as a fitting and explosive goodbye to one of the most influential bands in the history of the genre.
Farewell Tour:
In a night that will be etched into metal history, Sepultura concluded the North American leg of their Celebrating Life Through Death farewell tour with a massive surprise. During their sold-out show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, the band was joined by rock icon and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl for a thunderous rendition of the 1993 classic, “Kaiowas.”
The collaboration saw Grohl returning to his roots behind the percussion, adding his legendary energy to the tribal anthem from the Chaos A.D. era. The atmosphere was electric as the crowd witnessed the meeting of two musical powerhouses, marking a poignant moment in Sepultura’s final journey across the globe.
As of June 1, Sepultura officially transitions to the European leg of their farewell tour, kicking off with major festival appearances across the continent. This final run is not just a tour, but a celebration of over 40 years of heavy metal dominance that put Brazil on the global map of extreme music.
The band has also recently confirmed their final ever show, set for November in São Paulo, Brazil. For fans in North America, the Los Angeles show—bolstered by Grohl’s appearance—served as a fitting and explosive goodbye to one of the most influential bands in the history of the genre.
Farewell Tour:
Following on from their recent Bestial Hunger, featuring Liam Hedges from Gosika, Wollongong death metal band Destruction of the Healer has released their second offering.
Sekhmet serves as a thematic embodiment of the band and as the second look at their forthcoming album, A Universe Bereaved, due on July 9. Get the single now from all streaming platforms.
The Descendents have had a bit of a resurgence in the last decade and a half. Unfortunately, ALL has been left in the corner with very little attention outside of some one-offs for special occasions like Riot Fest and Jon Snodgrass’s Buddies Fest in Chicago. However, that hasn’t stopped either Chad Price or Scott Reynolds from making music or touring. Fans from California were treated to a mini-tour by Chad and Scott over Memorial Day Weekend, featuring some of their solo material and songs from their time in ALL. Their Long Beach stop, a small coffee shop, was the perfect place to see such a special show.
After a combination of bar shows and house shows, Chad and Scott made a stop at Jugband Coffee and Tea. The crowd was a good mix of hipsters and punk rockers of all ages. The shop itself is pretty cool, located in the Bluff Heights Neighborhood of Long Beach. A wall full of stringed and brass instruments hung on the wall with an upright piano just below. The space is mostly used for jazz and bluegrass, but it lent itself well to the show ahead. Opening the show were Will Huse and Joseph Bailey, each playing an acoustic guitar. They were a nice start to the show and set a tone for the afternoon’s sets. Their songs were calming, with Joseph’s lead parts melding well with Will’s parts to create a mellow vibe.
Chad and Scott’s performances were similar in the way that they built their setlists: a good mix of ALL songs paired with cuts from their solo stuff. The difference lies in each of their presentations. Chad’s set was more reserved and melodic. If you’ve heard his music post-ALL, it varies from the harsher sounds of A Vulture’s Wake to the calming, more picked sounds of his latest project, Chad Price Peace Coalition. Most of Chad’s set catered to the latter. He performed five ALL songs, opening with “Until I Say So,” but also including “Pummel’s” opener “Self Righteous,” which is a Karl Alvarez-penned song. Rounding out the set with songs like “Ice,” “Peachy Tuscadero,” and Drag the Rivers’ “Waste of Time, Valentine,” Chad played an unhurried mix of songs, and you could tell he had the time of his life doing so.
There was a very clear contrast between Scott’s and Chad’s almost regimented performance. He’s much looser about his sets and the way he presents. Scott was very upfront that he is human and makes a lot of mistakes. You could tell that, leading up to his set, Scott was a ball of nerves. Scott’s sets are more chord-based, almost campfire-like, as he is constantly telling stories about the songs, so much so that, at one point, he stopped in the middle of one to dissect a reference for the crowd. Scott opened with the only non-ALL cover during the set, a one-person jazzy rendition of the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop.” From there, the set jumped between solo material, ALL songs, and a couple of Goodbye Harry tracks as well. Scott closed his set with the ALL favorite, “Dot” from the album Percolater, a definite fan favorite.
Jugband Coffee and Tea was the perfect venue for this show. The store itself had a “Kids on Coffee” sign, and the menu board declared, “We are all kids on coffee.” The amount of love shown between the performers and the fans was one of those perfect storms you don’t always see nowadays. Yet, a show this niche had a crowd that recognized how special it was. To have Chad and Scott play a brunch-time set starting at eleven in the morning and stick around to talk to us was an experience not unheard of in punk rock, but definitely appreciated. Even if you weren’t a deep-cut fan of ALL, this was a real treat.