LAURA AND VL WITH RFO

 Requiem For Oblivion 

January 2021

Interviewed by:  

Laura Williams 

Vinyl Lollipops 

Cover courtesy of:

Steve Jacobson

Logo courtesy of:

Noah Scarpelli

(Lordran drummer)

Requiem For Oblivion is:

Mike Scutella - Drums

Steve Jacobson - Vocals/Guitars/Synth/Bass

*As things get back to normal (whenever that may be) and shows become a thing again, we will actively seek a bassist and possibly a second guitarist.

Laura:

What genre of music do you consider Requiem For Oblivion to be?

Steve: 

Definitely death metal but we have so many different elements in our music we like to call it hybrid death metal. We include a lot of technicality, atmosphere and slam.  There’s even a variety of different styles of vocals, especially on the full length which will be coming out at the end of 2021. 

Laura:

What's the ultimate direction for your band?

Steve: 

I'd love to have all kinds of things happen. Lol.

We would love to be able to tour at some point but mostly I’d love to play festivals. To have enough merch sales or patreons to make a nice supplemental income. Also, being signed to a major label and/or licensing our music to television and movies. Shooting a few pro videos and recording with a major studio/producer are also on the to-do list.

Laura:

How would you describe your music making process?  

Steve: 

I'd say the songs typically start with guitar riffs as we are a riff heavy band. Then Mike and I work together to put together our usual sophisticated 'songs within songs' approach. We will usually pick a name for the song from some topic or world situation that has interested us. The lyrics usually come later in the studio while laying down guitar tracks.

Laura:

Why call the band, “Requiem For Oblivion?”

Steve: 

I'm a recovering addict so years ago when we were trying to conceive a name for my old band in Sacramento, Forsake The Flesh, I thought of Requiem For Oblivion. It fits perfectly with my past. It's like a funeral for futility because that's what my addicted life was. Much of the lyrical content up until the last album was about addiction, recovery, death, hope, and mental illness, etc.  We expanded from personal demons to national issues and now more worldly, esoteric topics.

Laura: 

What should fans expect to experience at a show?  

Steve: 

So far we don't really utilize any type of theatrics, costumes, or etc but what you will get is a solid recreation of our loud, high energy, hybrid, sophisticated, death metal. 'Blast beats and double bass. Riffs to the face' as our shirts say on the back. Lol.

Laura:

Typical question here.  Who has influenced you the most via music?

Steve: 

I know Mike is a big Megadeth fan but more recently he has had some influence from Beyond Creation, Behemoth, Septic Flesh, etc. 

For me a major influence is Rush since my cousin turned me on to them as a kid. I feel like most metal, especially prog and tech styles have branched out from the Rush tree. So they get a lot of props from me.

More recent bands that are favorites are: Nile, Obscura, Hour Of Penance, Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Cynic, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Katatonia, Opeth, Fallujah, Ulcerate, Gojira, Aborted and more.

Laura:

How can fans and future fans locate, listen to and buy your music?

Steve: 

The new EP will be released on February 13th.  Until then you can check out all our other stuff on the following sites:

SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/requiem-oblivion/

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/RequiemForOblivion

ReverbNation:

http://www.Reverbnation.com/requiemforoblivion

YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/requiemforoblivion

Bandcamp:

http://requiemforoblivion.bandcamp.com

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/requiemoblivion

Metal Archives:

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Requiem_for_Oblivion/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/6PJR1B9BqpBy0z4Qves9JH...

Laura:

Is there anything else you would like your fans to know?

Steve: 

Just that we take a genuine interest in our fans and want to interact, even take feedback and constructive criticism from them.  We like to mess with them as well. Lol.

Laura:

What's coming up next for Requiem For Oblivion?

Steve: 

I'm actually in the studio now working on the full length due out at the end of the year.  LOVE this material sooooo much! Head and shoulders above the rest of our stuff I think. Excited for people to hear it. So we'll be teasing that in the next couple months, maybe spring.

Requiem For Oblivion is represented by:

www.metalcoffeepr.com

Metalcoffeepr@gmail.com

http://mhf-mag.com/

Laura Williams 

©️Vinyl Lollipops 

All Rights Reserved.

DONT F*CK WITH TEXAS LOST SACRAMENT JOIN METAL COFFEE

1. Introduce yourself and your band and tell us why we should listen to you. 

Hello, we are Lost Sacrament from McAllen, TX and you should listen to us because we offer a much different sound than other bands from our home area and our country.  

2. What do you classify your sound as, Who do you tell people you sound like? 

We specialize in Dark Progressive/Symphonic Metal. The beauty about what we sound like is, people tell us we sound like bands we are highly influenced by such as Evergrey, Nightwish, Pagan’s Mind, and Symphony X.

3. With digital music in today's world would you vote to keep or eliminate physical media? 

There is nothing more sacred to us than holding a physical CD or Vinyl of good music. So we are for physical media. The digital age has its perks, but physical media is priceless in so many ways. 

4.What is the reason you decided to be a musician and has that reason paid off? 

Some of us were born into music, some of us discovered it late in life, but the passion to play and make music is sort of an indescribable feeling. We can’t see ourselves doing anything else at the moment. We feel like it has definitely paid off. 

5.How do you feel about females in metal getting special attention? Do you feel it is fair? 

There is a fine difference between getting attention for sharing your talents in art and music, and getting attention based solely on looks. We really are for the first. Everything else is a plus. Female musicians deserve all the same attention and respect for their art that male musicians get, without having to ask for it. If the music is good, it will speak for itself.

6. In the world climate with hatred being at an all time high and metal being an “angry” music 

Do you think your music contributes to anger and hatred? 

No, in fact, we use our personal feelings and channel it into our music in the hope that others who may feel the same way will allow our music to resonate with them in a healthy way. 

7. Are you opposed to religious beliefs or politics being used in music? 

In some ways, if it is used to hurt or cut off a whole generation, we wouldn’t support the sentiment. But we’re not in the business of telling others what to listen to, religiously or politically. 

8. We have dive into some pretty deep issues here do you think your music sends a message and if so what is it? 

Our music reflects our personal moments of clarity, personal struggles, and tells stories. Our message is simply, don’t be afraid to be innovative and honest. 

9.The market has changed and many bands believe that record labels are a thing of the past, with many labels now charging bands to “sign” how do you think a band can make it in today’s scene? 

We personally don’t make music to “get signed”, we make music because we enjoy it, its as much a part of us as it is the listener. Getting “signed” by a label can happen for any band, sometimes its because they market harder than others, sometimes its sheer luck. If our music is good enough for a label, we would be pleased, but our main passion for “the music comes first” would not change. A great musician once said “if (your music) its good enough, you won’t have to force anyone to listen to it or to check it out, it will get out there and make its statement”.

10. Why with the thousands of options including netflix, sporting events everything on demand 

Why do you think people should take the time to listen to what you have to say in your music? 

We offer something much different in our sound than a lot of metal bands here in the US. If that entices you, then why not check it out.

11. How do you feel about pay to play? Do you think it is fair for a band to have to pay money to play? 

We are not for the idea. We have been roped into “pay to play” shows in the past and it has never worked out in our favor. If it works out for other bands, more power to you. 

12. It is fact that you are the talent and the entertainment explain what you think is the most important key to success? 

Not just being a good musician, but an honest and consistent musician. Your means of success will be limited, but honesty and consistency always come to light.

13. In country music and even in some cases rock music is written and performed by different people would your band perform a song written by someone else? 

If we were doing a tribute or a cover of an artist, maybe. 

14. If you are pro female in music are you pro using sex to sell your music? 

We can’t help if our singer is beautiful. Lol. But no, we don’t use sex to promote our music. 

15. What is your view on the lawsuits against people saying lewd or unprofessional things to women or men and how does that affect an art described as sex drugs and rock n roll? 

Those will always depend on the circumstances of the situation. If what they say is unfounded or harmful to the person, we don’t support that. 

16. Ok lets lighten up a bit. What is your favorite band of all time and why? 

Its hard to pick just one! But several of our favorites include Evergrey, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Children of Bodom, Dream Theater, Pagan’s Mind, Threshold, and most definitely Sinergy.

17. What would you be doing if you were not in a band? 

Our day jobs, we’re all educators. 

18. Do you have a favorite sports team? 

Dallas Cowboys por vida.

19. If you could get on stage with anyone dead or alive who would it be? 

Tom Englund (of Evergrey). 

20. This is your shot to let loose, Throw down your biggest complaint about the music biz 

Not enough love for our style of music here in the states. There are a lot of Symphonic metal bands that don’t get a lot of love here in the USA because the genre isn’t considered “brutal” enough to the generalized “metalhead”. We’re hoping to change that. In our area, things have began to change, not just because of our band, but because several artists felt compelled and inspired to play more progressive/power/symphonic metal music. That makes us feel more inspired to be better musicians everyday. 

Social Links

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/LostSacrament

Instagram- @LostSacrament_Band

Twitter- @Lost_Sacrament

Bandcamp- https://lostsacrament.bandcamp.com/

Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmcvunn77lEaz55cq6V0gQw

Spotify- https://open.spotify.com/artist/5uOFVsr6wsyiCx4KfVRjRf?si=in2kLxXXSrSs3Ez6Wgsasw

Amazon Music- https://music.amazon.in/artists/B08NP1DDDM/lost-sacrament?marketplaceId=A21TJRUUN4KGV&musicTerritory=IN

Apple Music- https://music.apple.com/us/artist/lost-sacrament/1540140171

BUCKLE THE F UP!! EVIL DRIVE

 Finnish melodic metal band Evil Drive is taking big steps forward with their upcoming 3rd album, both musically and technically.

Evil Drive, started in 2013, plays melodic metal. Their music combines the melodic side of Iron Maiden, the heavyness of Slayer and a very charismatic female singer. Evil Drive has published 2 full-length albums: The Land of The Dead (2016) and Ragemaker (2018).  Both albums received excellent feedback from the media. The much awaited third album Demons Within will be published 2.4.2021 worldwide by  Reaper Entertainment Europe and it will be distributed by Universal Music.

The band has been through some lineup changes since the last album; Antti Tani (drums) and Matti Sorsa (bass) are new band members. Evil Drive is now hungrier than ever before, and you can hear this on the new album.

Evil Drive is endorsed by Jackson guitars USA, EVH amps, Shure microphones and Korte drums.

Label: Reaper Entertainment Europe

Distribution: Universal Music

Metal Coffee PR

Band is

Viktoria Viren - vocals

J-P Pusa - guitar

Ville Viren - guitar

Antti Tani - drums

Matti Sorsa - bass

A Facebook link

https://www.facebook.com/evildriveofficial

A YouTube link

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgkHJnGk70rRJ_-JD4FZFiQ

A Spotify link

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4dQ6ENHVxFAEbJMH8BtZGw

An Instagram link

https://www.instagram.com/evildriveband/

RONIN NEW METAL COFFEE BREW

 

Tired of hearing, “Rock is dead bro”? Well, so are Ronin! These four guys from Long Island are eagerly anticipating the moment when they can shut those people up with the release of their 8-track debut album! Like so many others who pine for the sounds of bands like Metallica and Alice in Chains, Ronin crave the sensation and visceral experience that accompanies listening to just good old, hard-hitting, no-nonsense Rock and Roll! No need for pomp and circumstance! Throw out the smoke and mirrors! Ronin play what they want, how they want and without any unnecessary embellishment or apologies. 

In the grand scheme of things, that has always been the mission of the New York foursome that makes up Ronin. Chris Feldmann (Rhythm Guitar and Vocals), Jack Mauro (Lead Guitar), Andrew Vitale (Bass Guitar), and Justin Maas (Drums) all grew up in the 90’s and early 2000’s, a time where Rock music was everywhere! They’ve grown tired of the soft and weak, pop-infused rock that floods the airwaves, veiling itself under the guise of rock music. Ronin have made it their life goal to rock it back to the days when the genre charged ahead of the crowd with full throttle adrenaline. So, enough moping around, yearning for “what was.” It’s time to get your asses in gear and focus on “what will be.” The Rock Revolution has begun, and Ronin are sounding the charge! Ronin are here to throw down, have a good time, and rock – don’t you fucking forget it!

LAURA SITS DOWN WITH LIPSHOK

 Lipshok

January 2021

Interviewed by: 
Laura Williams
Vinyl Lollipops

Lipshok is:
Scarlett Dark - Keyboards/Vocals
Massimiliano Maggiari - Guitar
Phil Jameson - Bass
Joe Londeree - Drums

Laura:
What genre of music do you consider Lipshok to be?

Scarlett:
Ha ha, sometimes tough to answer. We think of it as gothic hard rock with some symphonic metal.  It seems that different people hear different genres and influences. Maybe it’s just original? Unique? Different? I like all of those.


Laura:
What's the ultimate direction for your band?

Scarlett:
To keep playing and writing new songs and getting this stuff out there. I am compelled. I don’t have a choice. It’s true. I have to do this. (I have to do other things too like have a day job, but music is a lot more fun)

Laura:
How would you describe your music making process? 

Scarlett:
Well, I like this question. First of all, since I’m the primary song writer, I usually start with some keyboard stuff, chord progressions, fooling around shit, and then from there a vocal melody comes to me almost instantaneously.  I start messing with those 2 things, vocals and chord progressions. 

Then I force the bass player, (who happens to be my husband), to come out to the studio (in our garage) and play along just to see how it sounds with other instruments.  Of course, this can be a long boring process as we argue for the first ½ hour about how it should go and then he gives in as he realizes what I’m doing.  Once I have a working arrangement of the song, (i.e. verses, choruses, bridges, etc.) I start adding vocal melodies and lyrics. All of this can take 10 minutes to an hour depending on how much cooperation I get. Next we record it so we don’t forget it.

Lastly it gets sent to the drummer and guitarist. They work on their parts and when we get together next we put it together as a band. I’m always amazed at how the song expands once we get everyone in there and this little ditty that I wrote becomes a huge wave of sound! LOL.

Laura:
Why call the band, “Lipshok?”

Scarlett:
Ah, of course. Important question. A lip shock happens when you are singing and touch your lips to the mic and there is an electrical problem and you get shocked in the old mouth.  Let me tell you, it isn’t comfortable. It feels like a bunch of little needles poking your lips. The first lip shock was huge. A blue arc you could see. The guy said at the time, “Wow, I just shocked my lips!”   I said, “Oooo, you got a lip shock!”  Then we ran from there. Of course, we had to make it one word and change the spelling so it looked cooler. Of course, whenever this happened to me everyone laughed. So, I eventually went wireless to avoid the problem, lol.


Laura:
What should fans expect to experience at a show?

Scarlett:
An honest to God musical extravanganza!! Ha ha, actually a sincere effort to tell the stories people think about in musical form. Maybe share the emotion and thought patterns that are prevalent in society. Unusual and unique melodies that can haunt the back of your mind. Most importantly, have a good time!!! 


Laura:
Typical question here.  Who has influenced you the most via music?

Scarlett:
Wow! So many and at the same time so few. I have always loved super orchestrated music, that is keyboards with guitars with harmonized vocals like choirs. I mean, I go back to Elton John, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and now Within Temptation, Nightwish, Ghost, Lacuna Coil, and Evanescence.

I used to be an opera singer!!

Laura:
How can fans and future fans locate, listen to and buy your music?

Scarlett:
We are all over the place now. We are on all the streaming services like: Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon, etc.  We are signed with a European label “Sliptrick Records” for distribution in Europe, and are on CD Baby in the US.

Website:
www.lipshok.com

www.sliptrickrecords.com/lipshok

www.cdbaby.com/lipshok


Laura:
Is there anything else you would like your fans to know?

Scarlett:
Everyone should hang in there. 2020 was a rough year and hopefully 2021 will get better and we can all look forward to seeing and hearing live music again. Love what you do and do what you love. We are always going to be creating and writing and recording and performing as it is the way of things.

Laura:
What's coming up next for Lipshok?

Scarlett:
Well, we are just getting out the new music from “LIPSHOK: Shadows of a Dark Heart.”  There’s a lot of interesting stories on this album. For example, we did an animated video of the number 5 track “And So He’ll Fly” which is a song about Icarus and an updated version of the tragic story.

“Looking Glass” is about Alice in Wonderland and how everyone wants to be her and go there.

“Alive Once More” is about being a vampire and never really “living.”

“Answer the Call” which is somewhat political about the events and the problems of immigration.  (I don’t usually write about political stuff as I live in Fantasyland, but I couldn’t ignore this one)

“Revenge” about just that, getting revenge in a really bad way.

“Don’t Fear Defeat” is about going on despite being afraid to lose, etc.

——

Lipshok is represented by:
www.metalcoffeepr.com
Metalcoffeepr@gmail.com
http://mhf-mag.com/



 Laura Williams
©️Vinyl Lollipops
All Rights Reserved.

KOSMONAUT SUPER HOT SPACE CHICK LEVEL EXPERT

 

It was sometime in the fall of 2019 that my friend and I decided to embark on a music journey. We wanted to make some music that was conceptually interesting and paid homage  to all of the influences that we had in our musical heroes. We embarked on our first record, a collection of EP’s that we had created that we decided to self title. It was an affirmation to everything that we were hoping it would be. It was raw, spontaneous , and honest. It was primitive and shamastic, and absolutely us. We decided to rip the fucking rear view mirro off our proverbial hot rod that we were cruising in and continue to pursue our sound. “Blues in solstice “ was created while we kept working past our first album.

It was literally a couple of months apart from the first batch of songs we created, and in some ways, it sounds like years were spaced in between the two. We picked up some momentum on this record thanks to Rob Hammer. He posted our first two albums to youtube and it was fucking inspiring. To think that we were lucky enough to have people listen and like our project was absolutely rewarding as fuck. We kept the momentum up with “frequency and vibration” , writing continuously since the first record. We wrote most of this record VIA EMAIL. We love to record, produce, and engineer music. Since we both have studios in our houses, we could work on music at our convenience, and move fast by just reacting off of each other's material.That’s ultimately what makes this band so great. The spontaneity that exists in the writing. We have so much music to share with you! We don't buy into the industries bullshit. We are not looking to get famous or fucking be Led Zeppelin or something.

We just love fucking music. We are metalheads, raised on the radio in the 90”s, grunge-aholics, and well versed in all things recording. We wanted to put together a band that was all of those things, and i honestly thing we succeeded with it. Check out all of our records at https://kosmonautofficial.bandcamp.com/. Most of the material is “ name your price”. This means if you are fucking poor like we are, you can download it for free. It is worth it. We love our music and want you to have it. Thank you so much for listening, and if you actually read all this shit, then god bless you, you are fucking one of us, the lovers of music. Hit us up and send us messages, we would love to hear from you! We are not the pretentious , stereo typical fucktards that play music. Give us links to records, songs, or even just say hello, we fucking love you, the listener, the people who get it. I hope you enjoy our music, we love you. 

 

https://www.facebook.com/kosmonautofficialmusic

 

https://kosmonautofficial.bandcamp.com/

DEEP AND HARD THE BOTTOM END OF STEALTH

 

1.Why Bass?

I play this instrument because the bass is the heart of the music so it creates a pulse of time and harmony 

2.Do you think it is unfair or just lack of knowledge bass gets so little credit?

I think the problem is caused by the fact that people focus on the superficiality of music. The bass instead is depth so it's for few connoisseurs.

3.What kind of bass do you use? Model , color , year , And why

I usually play my black ibanez k5. Ibanez bass has a very dry sound that's also suitable for metal but at the same time it's clean and harmonic.

4.Tell us about your amplification

My amp is a 4-way tube behringer with full bodied and expansive sounds

5. With all of that being said do you feel tone is an important thing for bass?

Everything is important with an instrument

6.Do you prefer 5 strings over 4 string?

I prefer the 5 string 

7.Who is your favorite bassist?

John Francis Anthony Pastorius

8. Who is your least favorite bassist?

Sid Vicious 

9.Why do you think women seem to be attracted to playing bass?

Because they are smarter than boss.

10. What bassist dead or alive would you like a private lesson with?

With Cliff Burton 

11. Bonus question

Bobby Doll , Nikki Sixx , Les Claypool , Billy Sheehan  which is more ridiculous and why

Bobby Dall because I don't like poison 

https://www.facebook.com/stealthattack.it

LIPSHOK REVIEW BY RAKK!

 

Lipshok – Review

These guys come from Lipshok | Hayward, CA | USA and released a new album, last year, called “Shadows Of A Dark Heart”, via Dist. Sliptrick Records. They play Gothic Rock and Symphonic Metal and their influences are Within Temptation and Evanescence. Scarlett Dark has beautiful skills, that will make you travel into another dimensions, when you hear her playing the keyboards. She even has a witchy voice. Mythical creatures will come to life, once they hear it. Scott Bullerwell plays fast and love how he does it, specially on “And So He’ll Fly”, the story of Icarus, that comes along with a video on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsLBj3rwCBw

 

I love the work Phil Jameson and Joe Londeree put on bass and drums.

The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Brad Barth at Audio Voyage Studios in Livermore, CA, USA.

REVIEW OF CULTT OF SHE BY BRYAN BLAKE

 CULT OF SHE 

SOUTHERN DOOM 

Cult Of She is a hybrid band that will blow your fucking mind. Influences consisting of hard core punk, fuzz metal, grunge,stoner metal, and that dirty raw sound we “ live “ music addicts crave. Southern Doom is the latest offering from this band, and it flows like a keg after a mosh. 

Songs like “late bloomer” and “ cottonmouth “ smack you in the face with aggressive guitar playing, howling vocals, and a rhythm section that pounds like the drums of hell. Their use of tempo’s and dynamics affirm that this band is well rehearsed and well versed. “ Dent”, is one of my favorite tracks on this album, it has a killer blend of grunge, death, hate, and agonizing lyrics that everyone can relate to. This song is an example of this band demonstrating it’s range in all things metal. 

This album has a great guitar tone, fuzzy, and at times utilizes that crispy stack clean to build a hellashish chorus, like on the song “ widow” which howls like old school manson with the angry vocals Blythe. I love their use of pedals, pitch shifters, and all manners of kool little nuances that are webbed  on this album. I love the use of feedback and noise, because it sounds like I am standing in front of the band, the use of gang vocals even make it feel like a show. This is a hard thing to do, especially for aggressive bands, they do so effortlessly. 

A special shout out to the bassist and drummer for their monstrous and tight arrangements throughout the album! This is a must have and will fit perfect in your collection, next to the stooges, nirvana, agnostic front, black flag, the melvins, and chase it with some code orange.

REVIEW BY

Bryan Blake