Dreams of Consciousness

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 165, featuring an interview with RM and JC of Plague Weaver. Plague Weaver was created by a former member of the Polish bands Azarath and Damnation, but it favours slow, doomy black metal over pure blast. The Ontario-based duo say that the air of mystery that surrounds their project is unintentional - though it suits their music perfectly. I spoke wi...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 164, featuring an interview with YhA of Suffering Hour. Minnsesota's Suffering Hour are an antidote to the hordes of newly popular "primitive" and "caveman" death metal bands. As chaotic as the trio's mix of death and black metal gets, at its core is a progressive mindset that sets the band apart from their peers. I spoke with guitarist Josh "YhA" Ra...

Here is episode 163 of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Jackie Perez Gratz of Grayceon. A cello-driven power trio that shares members with Giant Squid, Squalus, and Amber Asylum, Grayceon are one of the most unique bands to come out of the Bay Area metal scene. Though often lumped in with the progressive and avant metal scenes, their music owes just as much to class...

chandra machine love and gratitude eternally TRACKLIST: New Order - Temptation Sentenced - White Wedding Paradise Lost - Embers Fire Bloodbath - Eaten Devourment - Truculent Antipathy The Dillinger Escape Plan - Destro's Secret Pelican - A Delicate Sense Of Balance Nine Inch Nails - We're in This Together Dimmu Borgir - The Insight and the Catharsis Devin Townsend - The Death of Music The Gatherin...

Here is episode 162 of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Doug Moore of Glorious Depravity. A supergroup emerging from New York's underground metal scene, Glorious Depravity combines the talents of members of Woe, Mutilation Rites, Cleanteeth, and Pyrrhon. Named after a Ripping Corpse song, the band channels the classic albums of American death metal that were release...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 161, featuring an interview with Ezra Nattkaos of Gravkväde. A perfect soundtrack for this plague-beset winter, Swedish trio Gravkväde combine black metal, funeral doom, and dark ambient music to create bleak, crushing elegies of sorrow and despair. I spoke with multi-instrumentalist Ezra Nattkaos about Gravkväde's history, and the the influence of I...

In this supplement to Episode 160, I spoke with USBM author Daniel Lake about the different factions within the USBM scene, whether they can co-exist, and why certain bands elicit such stridently negative reactions. MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Deafheaven - "The Pecan Tree"[Sunbather] Nachtmystium - "No Funeral" [Addicts Black Meddle Pt II ] Yaotl Mictlan - "K'inich Janaab' Pakal" [Sagrada Tierra del Ja...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 160, featuring an interview with Daniel Lake, author of USBM: A Revolution of Identity in American Black Metal. Joining the canon of great books about underground metal, USBM: A Revolution of Identity in American Black Metal is a Who's Who (and sometimes just "Who?") of the American black metal scene. Written by Decibel Magazine's Daniel Lake, the bo...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 159, featuring an interview with Cardinal Wyrm. Based out of the Bay Area, Cardinal Wyrm combine elements of doom metal, prog rock and post punk to create a slow, ominous sound that defies genres. Vocalist/drummer Pranjal Tiwari and guitarist Nathan A. Verrill spoke to me about how they met, Cardinal Wyrm's "dark surf music" origins, as well as the w...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 158, featuring an interview with Marcin Skullripper of Azarath. "This isn't some kind of melodic death metal," Marcin Skullripper says with a chuckle. An understatement, indeed - with their ferocious riffing, insanely fast blastbeats, and lurching Immolation-isms, his band Azarath might be the heaviest one to appear on this podcast. Marcin spoke with...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 157, featuring an interview with Martin Schulman of Demonical. When Demonical released their first album in 2007, they were a rarity - a new band from Sweden that emulated the classic Stockholm death metal style of the late Eighties and early Nineties. Since then, a slew of revivalists flooded the scene and just as quickly disappeared - but Demonical...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 156, featuring an interview with Tlatecatl of Yaotl Mictlan. Just as Enslaved and Bathory found inspiration in their Scandinavian heritage, USBM trio Yaotl Mictlan draw from the pre-Columbian cultures of Central America. Along with Mayan and Aztec myths, the band employs traditional folk instruments and lyrics written entirely in Spanish, making them...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 155, featuring an interview with Mike Hochins of VHS. VHS have been featured frequently on Dreams of Consciousness, and for good reason - they write death metal songs about horror movies, a chocolate-and-peanut-butter type combination that can't be beat. I spoke with VHS vocalist/guitarist Mike Hochins about the movies that inspired their upcoming sp...

Music In This Episode: "Fornicating In The Furniture Store" taken from the album Screaming Mad Gore "Death and Carnage Coming In Waves" "Zombie vs Shark" taken from the album We're Gonna Need Some Bigger Riffs "I'll Swallow Your Soul" taken from the Tales of Horrific Mayhem split

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 154, featuring an interview with Ken Baluke of Sons of Otis. My thanks to Ken for speaking with me, and to you for listening. "To me, it's just a different kind of blues," says guitarist/vocalist Ken Baluke of his band, Sons of Otis. Formed in Toronto in the early 90's, the band's similarities to the likes of Sleep and Electric Wizard are too strong...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 153, featuring an interview with Mathieu "Vil" Vilandré of Fuck The Facts. Fuck The Facts were the first band I saw when I moved back to New York in 2008; as a result, I have a soft spot for the Quebecois group and their chimeric style of grindcore. I spoke with Fuck The Facts drummer Vil about where the band has been for the past five years, and wha...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 152, featuring an interview with John Cooke of Corrupt Moral Altar. Corrupt Moral Altar should be no strangers to readers of this blog, which has been praising them since they released the Whiskey Sierra 7". Since then, the band has put out two albums and a number of EPs, each filled with their unique blend of grind, groove, and puckish humour. I spo...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 151, featuring an interview with Mitch Harris of Brave The Cold, Napalm Death, Menace, Righteous Pigs, Defecation, and Meathook Seed. With a résumé that includes Napalm Death, Righteous Pigs, and Defecation, Mitch Harris is a grindcore O.G., albeit one who's not afraid of branching out into other genres (as evidenced by his work with Meathook Seed an...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 150, featuring an interview with Barney Greenway of Napalm Death. What can I write about Napalm Death that I haven't written before? The band was instrumental in my musical journey, and Dreams of Consciousness probably wouldn't exist without them. Since the release of the new Napalm Death album coincided with the 150th episode of the Dreams of Consci...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 149, featuring an interview with Fredrik Larsson and Andreas Backström of Grid. Based in the Northern Swedish town of Umeå, Grid's modern take on grindcore stands in sharp contrast to the straight-edge bands that their city is known for. Like Nasum before them, the trio isn't afraid of letting their songs branch out into crust punk and black metal. I...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 146, featuring an interview with Tony Tornay of All Souls. With members of Fatso Jetson, Black Elk, and Totimoshi, All Souls contains veterans of the West Coast desert and noise rock scenes. But in contrast to their background in making heavy and discordant music, the new project allows the Angelinos to explore more melodic and atmospheric terrain. I...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 147, featuring an interview with Patrick Fiorentino of Drouth. Since forming as Contempt, Portland's Drouth has always included elements of doom and crusty hardcore in their blasting style. Unlike the atmospheric and indie-inflected black metal that the Pacific Northwest has become known for, the band rarely lets its songs stray too far into "blackga...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 146, featuring an interview with Rodolfo Ciuffo of SVNTH. Sharing members with the similarly progressive-minded Bedsore, Rome's SVNTH integrates mid-paced shoegazing riffs and extended post-rock sections into their style of atmospheric black metal. I spoke with SVNTH vocalist/bassist Rodolfo Ciuffo about why the band looks to the American black metal...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 145, featuring an interview with Howling Giant. A power trio with alumni from The Berklee College of Music, Nashville's Howling Giant take a conceptual approach to writing heavy psych rock. But their music - filled with fuzz and science fiction references - is never so cerebral that it stops being fun. Following up last week's interview with Sergeant...

Here is Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 144, featuring an interview with Dan Flitcroft of Sergeant Thunderhoof. [Note: This interview took place on August 5, 2020.] Based in the English city of Bath, Sergeant Thunderhoof separate themselves from the stoner and retro metal pack by crafting songs with a psychedelic and progressive mindset. From their offbeat name to the thematic underpinning...