Metal Bulletin Zine #55 www.metalbulletin.blogspot.com September 2015 www.twitter.com/MetalBulletinZn www.fuglymaniacs.com (issues online, videos, …)

five bands from Washington state: Bell Witch Rhine Fallen Angels The Devils of Loudun A Flourishing Scourge

Dehydrated Steel Raiser Mangog

Junkyard Lipstick Deiphago

free metal music Let Them Hang Amorite InnerDarkness Inner Silence Oblitus

— Metal Bulletin Zine P.O. Box 1339 Lake Stevens WA 98258 USA www.facebook.com/pages/The-Metal-Bulletin-paper-zine Metal Bulletin Zine #1-20: (2006-2009): Wisconsin #21-26: (2009-2010): Texas #27(2010)--now; Washington state All album reviews, news, updates below are by MMB, unless stated otherwise. -— metal programs (these are Pacific Times) Mosh Pit (Madison, WI): Monday night 9:30pm-12am WORT 89.9 fm www.wortfm.org Sweet Nightmares (Houston, TX): Thursday night 9pm-12am KPFT 90.1 fm www.kpft.org Excuse All the Blood (Olympia, WA): Friday night 11pm-1am www.kaosradio.org Metal Shop (Seattle, WA): Saturday 11pm-3am KISW 99.9fm www.kisw.com — bands from Washington state Bell Witch Bell Witch is a doom band with two people: Dylan Desmond: bass/vocals Adrian Guerra: drums/vocals

Metal Archives says that the band started in 2010 and gives three works as the discography, starting with the “Bell Witch” demo from 2011, a four-song recording of

about 37 minutes. In 2012 the first album, “Longing,” was released, a work that lasts about one hour and seven minutes. Said album is six tracks and you can hear the complete recording at Bandcamp, and is recommended to listeners that are really into funeral death doom. For instance, the first song “Balls (of Flesh)” is over 21 minutes. It is best that you settle down, or let the music settle you down, calm your body down and let it take you on the journey, in slow motion. Heavy, slow and atmosphere is of the highest importance, an exploration of slow sounds.

In 2015 they have a new album called “Four Phantoms” on Profound Lore Records. The new album is another monument of about one hour and six minutes, divided into four parts. These doomsters have begun to hit pay dirt as a band and the new album is the evidence of that. Forget the fast life of the city for a while and take it slow, away from school, work, stress and traffic. www.profoundlorerecords.com www.bellwitchdoom.blogspot.com www.bellwitch.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/BellWitchDoom www.twitter.com/bellwitchdoom Rhine Watch out for the outlaws of extreme metal: Rhine. They will steal your horse and steal your wagon. Prepare yourself by learning how to prevent this theft by listening to the Rhine album “Duality” (2014) on Bandcamp. These mavericks of prog/extreme metal started in Seattle in 2011. On the album, apparently, the gambler Gabriel Tachell does everything, making the album a project of a lone ranger, but which now is a full group of high sierra bandidos. Facebook says that this is the band: the gambler Gabriel Tachell - guitar/vocals the dealer Alex Smolin - guitar the joker Carlos Delgado - drums the smoker James Porter - bass

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The music sounds, more or less, like extreme metal with prog elements, or if you will, prog of an extreme metal heritage. Whether it’s death metal or black metal that you hear, it’s tempered with prog guitar or prog structures. The music is a bit overwhelming at first. Here and there, the music is turned upside down with segments and pieces of experimental sounds, pushing for idiosyncrasies in the sound. They don’t sound really, really absurdly strange now, just loud, abrasive and somewhat experimental. They sound like extreme metal, but their followers could be in for a shock next album because this band will likely increase the maverick factor by ten, and we are all going to be dazed and confused, which is surely what this band wants. Once a band starts down the misty mountain high sierra hop, there’s usually no going back to “regular” or “normal” metal. This game of cards could get wild. Keep your eyes on the dealer. You gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them. www.rhine.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/rhinemetal Fallen Angels: World in Decay (Cyberdyne Records) Fallen Angels preach the gospel of traditional thrash metal and they practice what they preach. At this congregation of thrash they impress upon you the importance of playing your instruments well and showing that you

have the chops to play thrash. These Fallen Angels have a new album in 2015 and there are quite a few positives to notice. On one hand, the band kidnapped or blackmailed Michael Rosen to produce the album. Rosen is a name that thrashers will recognize due to his work with Death Angel/The Organization, Bonded by Blood, Flotsam and Jetsam, Sadus, Lääz Rockit, Forbidden, Testament, Vio-lence, Vicious Rumors and other bands.

The album is carefully aimed at the thrash audience, the people that demand that the guitar players have riffs, hooks and solos. This band will drop guitar work at your feet at any given time of the day because that is what they do. The solo may be a shred piece or it may have a bit of melody. Regardless, it is made with love, love of metal and love of guitar. For instance, the song “Mortis Ex Machina” makes it obvious that they have spent time thinking about how to make the solos work, as it is an example of the catchy songs that the band writes. Fallen Angels sounds as excited about these songs as they would like the audience to be. In other words, their enthusiasm is contagious. You can hear the 80s influence, but the album sounds like thrash in 2015, traditional thrash. The band has every reason to feel great about this album. They even have done something that very few metal bands, and something that almost no thrash bands know how to do: the bass guitar is very audible on the album. You might react like this: “Oh, so, that’s what the bass actually sounds like in a metal album, eh?!” That’s a

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very nice touch on the part of the band and I assume that they asked Michael Rosen to help them out on this matter and Mr. Rosen did help them and you can hear the difference. This is Fallen Angels in 2015. The band began in 2002. Metal Archives says that the band had a demo in 2004 and another one in 2005, and the first album “Rise from the Ashes” is from 2008. The second album “Engines of Oppression” is from 2010. It looks like the band perhaps hit a few snags along the way to the third album, but the band is back. You have to give credit to the band for the perseverance and for the new album. I’m sure it has not been easy going five years between albums, but what a great come back this is. Let’s hope that metal people in the Seattle and Washington and Pacific Northwest area respond to the band’s calling for thrash. If you are loyal to thrash, and you would like to hear a Seattle area band that plays thrash in 2015, this band will gladly show you what they do. www.fallenangelsthrashband.com www.facebook.com/pages/Fallen-Angels-Thrash-Band/336737539688752 www.twitter.com/FallenAngelsThr The Devils of Loudun: Entering Oblivion The Devils of Loudun have been getting out their name in the Seattle region. In 2015 things are becoming clearer. The band is now ready to show the world who they are with a brand new EP in 2015 called “Entering Oblivion.” The band plays a hybrid of neoclassical symphonic melodic black/death/power metal, with early Children of Bodom and also Kalmah as general reference points, if you want to know the musical parameters at work. The Devils of Loudun underline something important about metal music in 2015 in the Seattle area: metal bands are doing a wide variety of sounds, going in different directions. On ReverbNation the band has the following bio, which helps to illustrate the convergence

of sounds: “From Seattle, located in the heart of the rain drenched, frozen wastes of the Pacific Northwest, comes The Devils of Loudun. A six-man melodic death metal outfit named from a tale of religious fanaticism and demonic possession in 17th century France. Formed in the Summer of 2009, the band quickly gained ground in the non-existent Washington underground metal scene by destroying (and barfing at) every possible show that has been thrown at them. Drawing from influences which spread across a wide musical spectrum The Devils of Loudun's ever-evolving sound could be considered a combination of Scandinavian melodic death metal, symphonic power metal and American death metal topped with hearty serving of classical and video game influenced melodies. With the band recently finished up recording and releasing their first official EP titled “Entering Oblivion,” you can be sure to see them live, playing at local broken-down metal venues for pitchers of beer and on their upcoming West Coast tour in the Summer of 2015.”

This new EP “Entering Oblivion” is some 18 minutes of music that pulls the curtain completely and we now hear in full display where the band is going: they want to make great metal music, and they do not care if they break a few rules in the process. They

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stubbornly refuse to limit themselves to a genre or a style. The band is: Scott Hermanns – fire guitar wizardry Drew Tuel – nuclear guitar enchantment José Gutiérrez – drummering thunder exclaim Ben Velozo – keyboardian altercations ways Vance Bratcher – voices of the never end Billy Keller – bass frequencies palpitations Listen to the new music at Bandcamp. www.thedevilsofloudun.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/TheDevilsOfLoudun www.twitter.com/DevilsOfLoudun www.reverbnation.com/thedevilsofloudun A Flourishing Scourge: As Beauty Fades Away Recently I have been following a bit of the developments around this band A Flourishing Scourge, a group from the Seattle/Snohomish County region. They played a show in Arlington some weeks ago and it looks like they have been busy lining up some more concerts. In addition, they have done something very exciting: they now have their debut EP for a September 2015 release. Now, thanks to the band sending in a copy of the EP “As Beauty Fades Away,” there’s more to report about the band. I sort of had an idea what the music was going to sound like, having heard the band on ReverbNation previously, but it’s a different experience when you pop in the cd in the car and give it a few spins. I did not realize how ambitious this music would be. In my opinion, A Flourishing Scourge is fundamentally an early-Opethian metal band in spirit. Prog is the basis, and black and death metal are the pillars of A Flourishing Scourge. The music has its own niche going

because prog bands usually do not embrace black metal and death metal this fully, and death and black bands tend to shy away from the melody and mellow aspects of prog. That is why I point to early Opeth as a reference, the Opeth of the first two albums “Orchid” and “Morningrise” when the band sounded like it was in its own little world, before the commercial pressures. In a similar way, A Flourishing Scourge makes the effort to have good transitions between the mellow moments and the heavier ones, so that the music can flow, and not sound like a quick salad of riffs in a traffic jam.

Of course, this band can play music fast, slowly or melodically, but that’s not the point. The music does require several listens before it can really make sense to the audience. At first the songs are a landscape of sound waves, riffs and aural segments joined together by time, will and imagination. The sensation that the band seeks is that the listener recognize that it has taken a while for the compositions to form, and gratification for the listener will not be instant, but it does arrive with a few more spins. Is the band trying to separate the wheat from shaft, the casual

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listener from the ones that will become loyalists? Perhaps. Maybe there is no overall strategy besides just making the music that they want and letting the music find the audience. If listeners give this music the proper time, and are up for whatever new adventures might come around, this band would be a good choice. This is a wonderful start for the band. If this is only the beginning, supporters of the band have every right to be proud, and can look forward to some interesting and unexpected things to happen in the future. The band’s constant contrast of heaviness and melody, prog and extreme metal, beauty and beast, puts them in an advantageous position for the future. Can you believe that this band is from Snohomish County? It is my understanding that at least some of the members are from the general Everett/Snohomish area. That’s very good news indeed. Let’s have more metal in the Everett/Snohomish/Lake Stevens/ Marysville/Arlington area. The band is: Tye Jones: the grit and the crunch Josh Keifer: the cannons Kevin Carbrey: the thunder Andrew Dennis: the lead crunch www.facebook.com/aflourishingscourge www.twitter.com/a_scourge www.reverbnation.com/aflourishingscourge for tickets or booking information, please contact aflourishingscourge@gmail.com **

REVIEWS/NEWS

Dehydrated (Russia) Dehydrated, which began in 2008, is “brutal death metal” from Tomsk, in the land of extreme harsh winters, Siberia. This band is for metalheads that love it all, chug it all ultra death metal and are never satisfied and always want more brutal, more slam, more heavy, more groove, more sick, more blurghh! Their Facebook info says that the band is: Ira - vox Evgen – guitars Evgenii - bass

The band has been active for a while now and has a good story so far, one that hopefully is just beginning. The following information is from the band’s bio: “ … In October 2009 first birthday was celebrated by going on promotional tour SCREAM of TERROR tour 2009. Thus supporting EP they visited European Russia …Tour was crowned with utterly successful show at PETROGRIND – 6 (St. Peterburg) ... October 2011 the band bestowed fans with first music video Alive Underground, two

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months later they issued second EP Mind Extract that included 5 songs. Next tour was finished with playing at ‘Jeleznie Devi’ Summer 2012 was dedicated to recording second full-length album ZONE beneath the SKIN that was released under HEADXPLODE Record in 29th September. Halved support tour included visiting Russian Far East, Siberia, European Russia and Ukraine. Early January of 2013 DEHYDRATED granted fans second music video WEREWOLF … 2013 for the band became even more successful in live performances… Winter 2013 takes another significant event in the band's first tour of Europe. Which was timed to the anniversary as well and was named Anniversary winter tour 2013. Road includes 17 cities, 8 countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia … In the summer of 2014 DEHYDRATED sent to it’s biggest tour in the history of the band, 'GANGSTERS of the ROADS euro tour 2014', consisting of 25 dates. Border trails are expanding and it includes countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia. 7 of these concerts, open air festivals, such as: OBSCENE EXTREME fest (Czech republic), DEATH FEAST (Germany), Aggressive music fest (Czech republic), FLASH party (Slovakia) and others…” Metal Archives lists the discography as: Suffering from Mummification demo 2010 Duality of Existence Full-length 2011 PureFilth / Dehydrated / Grace Disgraced / Redrvm Split 2011 Mind Extract EP 2011 Zone Beneath the Skin Full-length 2012 Scar Inside Single 2014

You can listen to the music at the Bandcamp. www/dehydratedruss.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/dehydratedband www.twitter.com/bandDEHYDRATED www.headxplode.bigcartel.com Steel Raiser (Italy): Unstoppable (Iron Shield Records) Steel Raiser’s album is strong traditional heavy metal in the style of big time, prime time Judas Priest-Primal Fear pounding heavy metal with window-shattering screaming, from Italy to the nations. The band represents total loyalty and devotion to heavy metal, as the gods first created it and as it is documented in the book of heavy metal written in iron pages. Steel Raiser is band of crusaders of heavy metal that is true as steel and keeps it true to the heart. The record company also adheres to the curmudgeon philosophy when they say: “IRON SHIELD Records is a Label for loyal oldschool metal fans. Mostly for real Heavy/ Speed & Thrash Metal, no modern or trendy stuff!” You see? They are on the same page. The band is: Gianluca Rossi – guitar of steel Alfonso Giordano – voice of iron Giuseppe Seminara – guitar of fire Salvo Pizzimento – bass of thunder Antonio Portale – drums of apocalypse

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I have had to listen to this album a bunch of times to confirm what I am hearing. I thought that maybe the album sounded great because I was in a good mood. Maybe only the first few songs sound awesome and I need to listen to the complete recording? Perhaps the slow songs and the ballads will be bad? I hear no slow songs and no ballads. Ok, well, that solves that problem! There are three main speeds: fast heavy metal that is akin to speed/thrash metal. There are uptempo songs that makes it impossible not to bang your head, whether you are on the bus, at the grocery store, at the gym, or when you are marching in the streets against capitalism, or marching for capitalism (whichever one it is that you do). There also some midtempo moments when the band brings on a bit more melody. They have a song called “Dreaming of You” and it is not a ballad! The most melodic song is called “The Last Tears” and it is also not a ballad. They just like to rock out and play fast and play faster and bang their heads. The vocals are traditional, but there are various shades and tones of singing. I have tried to find out if this is all the same singer and I have not found anything that says that it is not the same person. The various tones that you can hear make for an interesting listen. They do have a song with some guest vocals, but that’s easy to hear and that’s easily confirmed by looking it up on Metal Archives, too. You love true heavy metal. You keep it true. You want the original and authentic heavy metal, but you say that you do not know Steel Raiser. Well, Steel Raiser actually knows you very well. Steel Raiser is you. Steel Raiser is heavy metal.

www.facebook.com/SteelRaiserOfficial www.ironshieldrecords.de Mangog (U.S.): Daydreams within Nightmares Mangog is a new band that plays classic-style Sabbath/Zeppelin/blues heavy rock doom. It’s a new band formed in 2014 and there are only three songs so far on Bandcamp, but there is a lot more than meets the eye to Mangog. The band is: Myke Wells: vocals Bert Hall, Jr.: guitars, vocals Darby Cox: bass Mike Rix: drums

Bert Hall is the same person associated with the long-running band Revelation and Mike Rix is a former member of doomsters Iron Man. Metal Archives says that Bert joined doomsters Revelation in 1988. Revelation (Maryland, U.S.) early in its career was on Rise Above Records, Napalm Death/Cathedral vocalist Lee Dorrian’s record label, such as for the wonderful cult doom album “Salvation’s Answer” (1991). Bert does a bunch of other music endeavors, of course, such as Against Nature. Mike Rix has a long list of music bands, too, but doomsters will recognize the name Iron Man the most, perhaps.

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As you can see, these are veterans of music, metal and doom. About the new music: the EP is an impressive illustration of doom that listeners into 70s Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and other 70s heavy rock acts will understand. Listeners into Witchfinder General, Candlemass, Trouble, Pentagram, Count Raven, Saint Vitus, and Pagan Altar should put Mangog on their list of classic-style doom bands to research. This three-song 17-minute EP serves as an excellent introduction to the band. I may have given you the incorrect impression that perhaps Mangog might sound like this or that band. Rest assured that this is not the case, in my opinion. To me, the main vocalist Myke Wells sounds only like Myke Wells and there is a vibe about his voice that makes Mangog sound genuine and different. Mangog interprets doom, 70s heavy rock blues and metal in a way that, in my view, sounds fresh to the ears. You can go to the Bandcamp page and listen to the full recording. If you have an interest in hearing rock/blues-based traditional doom, I hope that you give it a listen. Don’t take my word for it, either. Go to Bandcamp and listen for yourself. Personally, I’m excited to hear more music. I like where this band is going. www.mangog.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/MangogDoom www.twitter.com/mangogdoom Junkyard Lipstick (South Africa) Crossover band Junkyard Lipstick recently has been going through some lineup changes and it seemed like things were getting a bit quiet, but they seem to have gotten reorganized and it appears like things are looking up again and that’s very good news for the band and for those that support them.

If you support crossover, and you have not listened to this band or have not heard the new vocalist, right now is a good chance to hear what they are doing in 2015 and they are hinting at what’s coming. Go to Bandcamp to hear the newest track with the new vocalist Jo Smit. www.junkyardlipstick.bandcamp.com/music www.facebook.com/junkyard.lipstick www.twitter.com/junkyardlipstic Deiphago (Costa Rica) Bestial metal squadron Deiphago began in the Philippines in 1989, but has been based in Costa Rica for more than ten years now, according to Metal Archives. Deiphago plays the barbaric, war metal associated with the early periods of bands like Venom, Sodom, Destruction, Bathory, Sarcófago, Blasphemy, Nifelheim, Destroyer 666, Revenge, Conqueror and others playing raw/black/thrash/war metal that is as primal as it is chaotic.

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The heritage of extreme chaos metal is what Deiphago lives. It’s not music for most metal listeners. Many people complain that the band “should” get a better production or that the music sounds “disjointed,” so on and so forth. Such complaints seem to suggest that the band needs to become better at playing the instruments, that they need to practice more or that they need to do something in order to be more musical. All of such complaining goes to show you how misunderstood Deiphago and this genre is. The reviews complain today the same way that the critics complained decades ago: that Venom is too raw, that Helllhammer is too extreme, that Sodom is the worst band in the world, that Revenge is too monotonous, and now that Deiphago is not musical enough. Don’t you think that this band, if they wanted, could write more melodic songs or make more commercial songs? Yes, they absolutely could because they have been playing music for a long time. Bands like Venom, Sodom, Celtic Frost, Destruction, Destroyer 666 and others have shown that they can be melodic when they want. Writing melodic metal for a band that was formed in 1989 should not be a problem, but that is not what this album is. This album is about extreme chaos metal, and Deiphago is really good at it. Deiphago is a raging bull in a china shop, unclinical, unperfect, dirty and mean, which is on purpose because this band seeks to take it to the end of the line in terms of brutality and bestial metal, in direct contrast to the perfect/clinical/computerized metal of today. www.hellsheadbangers.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-eye-of-satan www.deiphago.webs.com www.facebook.com/666division email: deiphago@yahoo.com FREE METAL MUSIC

All these recordings are free when last checked September 2, 2015. Let Them Hang (Sweden) “Human Macabre Icon” is the 2015 three-song EP by this groove death metal band. So far, the band has four EPs since 2013, and this is the fourth one. The band goes for a definite Swedish groove death or death ‘n’ roll sound. The band says that their basis is death metal and punk, and the result is heavy and simple growl metal with the old Swedish guitar tone. The band also says that they record their music live in the studio, for that death punk feel.

Let Them Hang is: Peter: drums and percussion Staffan: Bass and vocals Alex: Guitar and vocals Listen and download the free recordings here. www.letthemhang.bandcamp.com/releases www.facebook.com/lthgbg Amorite (Hungary) “Invisible Fire” is the band’s debut, a seven- song 2015 recording. Amorite breathes old school death metal, and they make sure to keep it traditional and orthodox, based around the vibe of 1988-1991 classic death metal: heavy, growled expressive vocals, riffs that emphasize heaviness and direct impact. The guitar solos is where you will find a bit of melody, as is the case in traditional death metal. This band is oblivious to whatever

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trends in death metal are going on right now. It is death metal made by enthusiasts of the genre. Listeners that support the style should give it some of their time because it is made for them.

www.amoritehun.bandcamp.com/releases www.facebook.com/amoritehun InnerDarkness (Belgium) Instrumental atmospheric cave black metal is what you will find on the demo called “The Story of Nature,” a four-song 2015 recording. The music is meant, from what I hear, to take you away from the chitchat and conversation and noise of the world. InnerDarkness probably would like for you to listen to the music so that you can hear yourself think. You might call this music “post-metal” or something similar. It’s meant to be simple and to create a sense of solitude. It is a demo recording and it’s not fancy. It sounds “homemade,” like a demo, but if you like instrumental music and you like this type of music (instrumental, demos), check this one out. Of course, just understand that this is pretty different and not for the commercial world.

www.innerdarkness.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/pages/InnerDarkness/1400721410232862 Inner Silence (Ukraine) “Constellation” is about 54 minutes of instrumental dark/gothic metal. Inner Silence is recommended for those individuals that like music that is contemplative and melodic.

It is easy to imagine that the band wants to create music that is serene, inviting to thoughts, and also friendly to the ear. The music allows for that certain silence and peace that is possible when there is no human shouting or screaming over the music. No voices are necessary here. It is music that is more intellectual, if you will. It’s not meant to be elitist, of course, but it might come across that way because of the band’s unwillingness to succumb to the rules of the game that say that you must have vocals/frontperson. Inner Silence is playing its own game by the rules that they have made. www.innersmusic.bandcamp.com www.innersilence.net

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Oblitus “Shattered Shape” is the name of the free recording by Oblitus, black metal from Adelaide, Australia. Oblitus works with the sound of traditional black metal, including the vocals, the riffing and the sound. While it is true that today (and certainly in the U.S., bands are mixing hardcore with black metal and many bands are doing “post”/noise/experimental sounds) traditional black metal seems harder to find, these Australians represent the more natural, less computerized sounds. The recording lasts about 20 minutes (it has some interludes, in addition to the songs), and it’s a strong showing for the band, in my opinion. They formed in 2014, according to Metal Archives, but there must be more of a history to the members’ past because Oblitus does not sound like an inexperienced group messing around in the garage, which is what I would expect for a band formed in 2014. If you have an interest in traditional black metal, and you would like to hear a new band from Adelaide, Australia interpreting the genre in 2015, go the Bandcamp page and listen to music, and get in contact with the band. Bands appreciate it when you let them know that you downloaded their music. The band is: Anya Vassilieva: guitars Levi Siegmann: bass and vocals Craig: drums - After the above was written, the band wrote back in response: “Craig the drummer has been in tons of punk and punk influenced bands throughout Adelaide for years now. And I've been working in the music field for a long time throughout projects such as Betray the Oracle (funeral doom), Pain is a Naroctic (DSBM), happiness and something psychotic (experimental noise etc.) as well as a few

other projects. Anya however has not played in any bands outside of Oblitus. Just to give you some idea of the member background for the blog post.”

www.oblitus.bandcamp.com/releases www.facebook.com/OblitusAU September 8, 2015