Crimson Scythe
Hail Barry! Would be good to give basic information about Crimson Scythe. Let introduce yourselves by the short band's history.
Barry: Hails! Sure, Crimson Scythe is a Melodic Death Metal band consisting of two members from Alberta, Canada. Crimson Scythe has only existed for a year now but Dennis and I have been playing together since we were about 13 years old! About 5 years ago we were playing together in an instrumental melodic Power Metal band under the name of Heretic. I feel we were in this band to improve our melodic guitar playing and songwriting. Nowadays, we have taken the same melodic guitar playing and speed it up. Also, we have harsh vocals. We have also added some seasonings of Black Metal, Death Metal and Thrash. You can still find some elements in Crimson Scythe that relates to our history. Such examples of this would be in the song "The Demon Within". In Heretic, we had an intro track called that. Dennis and I both liked the name so we re-wrote the song and kept the song title. Even on the new, upcoming demo we have a song titled "Redemption". All of the music is entirely new but the title itself stems back to the beginning of the Heretic period.
Arcana Noctis: Well, exploring the depths of your music, we may find different influences, starting from Death Metal and ending of ultra melodic riffs. How can you describe a style you playing?
Barry: We are a Melodic Death Metal band (with Black Metal, Symphonic Metal and Power Metal seasonings). It's like we take the melodic parts of Iron Maiden and inject some steroids into them and then speed it up a bunch. We proceed to add some keyboards to make it more polished and "symphonic". There is quite a bit of double kicking on the drums as well... And just for good measure, we put harsh vocals overtop of it. That is what Melodic Death Metal is!!!
Arcana Noctis: OK, let's talk about bands, which music took a big source of inspiration for you and Dennis. Well known Finns were main teachers of yours, am I right?
Barry: Yeah, that's correct. Finland has been a huge part of our inspiration. Firstly, Children Of Bodom. Their first 3 albums got us into this style of music. At the same time we also discovered Kalmah (from Finland as well). We learned a great deal musically from these two bands. In my opinion, these two are the teachers in the school of Melodic Death Metal. Our band is merely one of many students in their class. I feel that we also blend some elements into our music that neither of those bands have. Just to be original and also to give it the Crimson Scythe sound. Another big influence would have to be Iron Maiden. Their sound has rubbed off on us through two bands now (first being our melodic Power Metal band named Heretic)!
Arcana Noctis: References on your demo are predominantly quite good. But did you get negative feedbacks, btw?
Barry: In the past I have heard lots of great comments on the demo. However, some of the comments or reviews have stated that they thought the production of the demo was on the weak side. This demo is a home recording. In my opinion, the demo is above average from other home recordings that I have heard in the past. Of course it isn't as good as a professional studio album but that is why we released it (and it is labeled) as a demo. This is a demo available online for anybody to download for free! If fans liked the demo, they will love our new material.
Arcana Noctis: Cover artwork for your demo is a work of Kris Verwimp hands. How do you appreciate that cover he made? Was it a hard to get a deal with him?
Barry: Kris Verwimp is among the most talented artist that anybody will ever find. I am a huge fan of his work and very pleased with the cover. It is very inspirational to the band and Dennis and I are very proud of it. I think it fits perfectly with the music. First, I e-mailed Kris Verwimp and told him that Crimson Scythe was coming out with a demo and that I wanted him to make the cover. I attached some songs for him to listen to and he listened to them and drew the cover and sent it back. The first time I e-mailed Kris Verwimp was when Dennis and I formed Heretic. We wanted him to draw a logo for the band. Unfortunately, Kris was too busy at the time. Nowadays, he still is a very busy man but I am extremely grateful that he took time out of his busy schedule and drew us the cover. Kris is very professional and the first choice for any future release we will come out with. He is a great supporter of the Metal scene.
Arcana Noctis: OK, may you tell a bit about upcoming album?
Barry: Yes, of course. We are working ferociously on writing material for a full length album. However, before the release of the full length we will be coming out with a new demo. This demo will consist of 4 original songs and 1 cover. I feel that the new material is shaping up to be our best music yet. It has the same style that our other demo had but the music is better written and the production is turning up better then the previous demo. The sole purpose of this new demo will be to find a label that we can release our full length album on. Many of the songs on the new demo will be on the full length so this new demo will not be available for download or purchase. Fans will get to read reviews of it and probably get to hear samples on the website (teasers). The full length will be released when we are finished writing everything and are reading. I am very excited for this release! It'll blow everybody away...
Arcana Noctis: Let's talk about your views. As I understood, Crimson Scythe are anti-Christian band. Describe your personal views. What do you want to express and tell to the listeners?
Barry: In my opinion Christianity is a complete waste of time. How can somebody dedicate so much time to something so pointless? Churches also would like donations. Some people give 10% of their total earning to the church. How brainless is that? How can people be tricked so easily? Churches are brainwashing people and have been for many hundreds of years. In my hometown there are a dozen churches with a population of only 8000 people! Why would they build so many if they weren't making money hand over fist? They scam as much money as they can from people that think they are going to heaven because they obey a book and donate money? Sounds like brainwashing... Plus, I absolutely despise the preachy ones. It is all they talk about. They tell me what to do and how to act! Don't follow such nonsense.
Arcana Noctis: As regarding Canada, do your country feel a big influence from church dogmas or people are much opened and doesn't want to follow the herd?
Barry: Yes, every country has many types of brainwashed religious cults and Canada is no different. We have Christians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Catholics etc. All the same dumb bullshit. A lot of us are smart enough that we do not waste time and money on that. These are people that can think clearly. It is intelligence that separates us from them.
Arcana Noctis: Ah, surely I can't forget to ask of Canadian scene. Which bands can you recommend us to taste?
Barry: Yeah, the Canadian scene is doing pretty good. Blinded By Faith is a Melodic Death Metal band and their first album "Under An Occult Sun" is an awesome disc! I can recommend anybody that likes Melodic Death Metal to give them a listen. I also must recommend a friend's band that plays Viking Metal called Dark Forest. Their first full length will be out soon. I am very excited for this release as I enjoy their music a lot. Kris Verwimp (as mentioned above) is drawing their cover artwork. Their full length will be called "Aurora Borealis". Check them out at www.darkforest.ca.
Arcana Noctis: Canada is well-known of her bilinguality. Do all people know both languages, English and French?
Barry: No, they do not. Actually, the majority of people in western Canada do not know French. I can remember that when I was in grade school I had to take French classes. Nothing really stuck and I only did enough to pass that grade. Also, products containing labels in stores must be in English and French to be sold in Canada. Weird...
Arcana Noctis: Canada always was peaceful country. But a state called Quebec want to be separated from your federation. Did they do any extreme actions like bombings or propaganda as North Irishmen doing, for example?
Barry: Not that I am aware of. Canada is a peaceful country. Some people wanted Quebec to separate and form their own country because they feel that they are different due to the language and other reasons. They voted on this and didn't have enough % of voters to separate. I have nothing against people from Quebec or anywhere else... In fact, some of the bands in Quebec are very good. They have Cryptopsy and Kataklysm. Both are Death Metal bands. Blinded By Faith hail from Quebec too!
Arcana Noctis: Clear. OK, tell me, which books are your favourites?
Barry: I enjoy reading medieval novels. I recently read two books ("Eragon" and "Eldest") from the Inheritance Trilogy by American author Christopher Paolini and I am eagerly awaiting the third book to be released. He is a fantastic writer and quite young. I believe he was born at the end of 1983 while I was born in the beginning of 1984. To have already wrote two fantastic books and coming out with another one so early in his life is a great achievement. I recommend anybody into medieval novels to read his trilogy. I am a big fan of "Lord Of The Rings" as well. Those are classic...
Arcana Noctis: Let's imagine, you have been awaken in a place amongst Eskimos in north of Canada, you are dumbfounded and can't remember everything. But only thing, that you have got a hockey stick into hands. You don't understand each others due to different languages and the aboriginals looks hostile. What you will do in such an event?
Barry: This is a very good question. I would give the Eskimos the "Metal-horns" sign with my hands and see if they knew what it meant. Then I would flip my hockey stick like it was a guitar and make sounds like I was playing guitar. Perhaps, they like Metal too? What if they don't understand me and try to attack? Well, I have played hockey for 7 years when I was younger and I definitely know how to hurt somebody with a hockey stick.
Arcana Noctis: Every man thinking of demise, rarely but someday such thought might be appeared. How do you want to die?
Barry: How would I like to die? I would like to die burning in a fire. This would prepare me for the fires of hell that await me in the after-life!!
Arcana Noctis: Well, Barry, thanks for interview. The last words are yours.
Barry: Thank you friend. I would just like to add that our official website is located at www.crimsonscythe.com. Anybody is welcome to check it out and give the demo a listen to. Also, feel free to drop us a line at gospel_of_gore@hotmail.com. Until next time, cheers!
Barry: Hails! Sure, Crimson Scythe is a Melodic Death Metal band consisting of two members from Alberta, Canada. Crimson Scythe has only existed for a year now but Dennis and I have been playing together since we were about 13 years old! About 5 years ago we were playing together in an instrumental melodic Power Metal band under the name of Heretic. I feel we were in this band to improve our melodic guitar playing and songwriting. Nowadays, we have taken the same melodic guitar playing and speed it up. Also, we have harsh vocals. We have also added some seasonings of Black Metal, Death Metal and Thrash. You can still find some elements in Crimson Scythe that relates to our history. Such examples of this would be in the song "The Demon Within". In Heretic, we had an intro track called that. Dennis and I both liked the name so we re-wrote the song and kept the song title. Even on the new, upcoming demo we have a song titled "Redemption". All of the music is entirely new but the title itself stems back to the beginning of the Heretic period.Arcana Noctis: Well, exploring the depths of your music, we may find different influences, starting from Death Metal and ending of ultra melodic riffs. How can you describe a style you playing?
Barry: We are a Melodic Death Metal band (with Black Metal, Symphonic Metal and Power Metal seasonings). It's like we take the melodic parts of Iron Maiden and inject some steroids into them and then speed it up a bunch. We proceed to add some keyboards to make it more polished and "symphonic". There is quite a bit of double kicking on the drums as well... And just for good measure, we put harsh vocals overtop of it. That is what Melodic Death Metal is!!!
Arcana Noctis: OK, let's talk about bands, which music took a big source of inspiration for you and Dennis. Well known Finns were main teachers of yours, am I right?
Barry: Yeah, that's correct. Finland has been a huge part of our inspiration. Firstly, Children Of Bodom. Their first 3 albums got us into this style of music. At the same time we also discovered Kalmah (from Finland as well). We learned a great deal musically from these two bands. In my opinion, these two are the teachers in the school of Melodic Death Metal. Our band is merely one of many students in their class. I feel that we also blend some elements into our music that neither of those bands have. Just to be original and also to give it the Crimson Scythe sound. Another big influence would have to be Iron Maiden. Their sound has rubbed off on us through two bands now (first being our melodic Power Metal band named Heretic)!
Arcana Noctis: References on your demo are predominantly quite good. But did you get negative feedbacks, btw?
Barry: In the past I have heard lots of great comments on the demo. However, some of the comments or reviews have stated that they thought the production of the demo was on the weak side. This demo is a home recording. In my opinion, the demo is above average from other home recordings that I have heard in the past. Of course it isn't as good as a professional studio album but that is why we released it (and it is labeled) as a demo. This is a demo available online for anybody to download for free! If fans liked the demo, they will love our new material.
Arcana Noctis: Cover artwork for your demo is a work of Kris Verwimp hands. How do you appreciate that cover he made? Was it a hard to get a deal with him?
Barry: Kris Verwimp is among the most talented artist that anybody will ever find. I am a huge fan of his work and very pleased with the cover. It is very inspirational to the band and Dennis and I are very proud of it. I think it fits perfectly with the music. First, I e-mailed Kris Verwimp and told him that Crimson Scythe was coming out with a demo and that I wanted him to make the cover. I attached some songs for him to listen to and he listened to them and drew the cover and sent it back. The first time I e-mailed Kris Verwimp was when Dennis and I formed Heretic. We wanted him to draw a logo for the band. Unfortunately, Kris was too busy at the time. Nowadays, he still is a very busy man but I am extremely grateful that he took time out of his busy schedule and drew us the cover. Kris is very professional and the first choice for any future release we will come out with. He is a great supporter of the Metal scene.
Arcana Noctis: OK, may you tell a bit about upcoming album?
Barry: Yes, of course. We are working ferociously on writing material for a full length album. However, before the release of the full length we will be coming out with a new demo. This demo will consist of 4 original songs and 1 cover. I feel that the new material is shaping up to be our best music yet. It has the same style that our other demo had but the music is better written and the production is turning up better then the previous demo. The sole purpose of this new demo will be to find a label that we can release our full length album on. Many of the songs on the new demo will be on the full length so this new demo will not be available for download or purchase. Fans will get to read reviews of it and probably get to hear samples on the website (teasers). The full length will be released when we are finished writing everything and are reading. I am very excited for this release! It'll blow everybody away...
Arcana Noctis: Let's talk about your views. As I understood, Crimson Scythe are anti-Christian band. Describe your personal views. What do you want to express and tell to the listeners?
Barry: In my opinion Christianity is a complete waste of time. How can somebody dedicate so much time to something so pointless? Churches also would like donations. Some people give 10% of their total earning to the church. How brainless is that? How can people be tricked so easily? Churches are brainwashing people and have been for many hundreds of years. In my hometown there are a dozen churches with a population of only 8000 people! Why would they build so many if they weren't making money hand over fist? They scam as much money as they can from people that think they are going to heaven because they obey a book and donate money? Sounds like brainwashing... Plus, I absolutely despise the preachy ones. It is all they talk about. They tell me what to do and how to act! Don't follow such nonsense.
Arcana Noctis: As regarding Canada, do your country feel a big influence from church dogmas or people are much opened and doesn't want to follow the herd?
Barry: Yes, every country has many types of brainwashed religious cults and Canada is no different. We have Christians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Catholics etc. All the same dumb bullshit. A lot of us are smart enough that we do not waste time and money on that. These are people that can think clearly. It is intelligence that separates us from them.
Arcana Noctis: Ah, surely I can't forget to ask of Canadian scene. Which bands can you recommend us to taste?
Barry: Yeah, the Canadian scene is doing pretty good. Blinded By Faith is a Melodic Death Metal band and their first album "Under An Occult Sun" is an awesome disc! I can recommend anybody that likes Melodic Death Metal to give them a listen. I also must recommend a friend's band that plays Viking Metal called Dark Forest. Their first full length will be out soon. I am very excited for this release as I enjoy their music a lot. Kris Verwimp (as mentioned above) is drawing their cover artwork. Their full length will be called "Aurora Borealis". Check them out at www.darkforest.ca.
Arcana Noctis: Canada is well-known of her bilinguality. Do all people know both languages, English and French?
Barry: No, they do not. Actually, the majority of people in western Canada do not know French. I can remember that when I was in grade school I had to take French classes. Nothing really stuck and I only did enough to pass that grade. Also, products containing labels in stores must be in English and French to be sold in Canada. Weird...
Arcana Noctis: Canada always was peaceful country. But a state called Quebec want to be separated from your federation. Did they do any extreme actions like bombings or propaganda as North Irishmen doing, for example?
Barry: Not that I am aware of. Canada is a peaceful country. Some people wanted Quebec to separate and form their own country because they feel that they are different due to the language and other reasons. They voted on this and didn't have enough % of voters to separate. I have nothing against people from Quebec or anywhere else... In fact, some of the bands in Quebec are very good. They have Cryptopsy and Kataklysm. Both are Death Metal bands. Blinded By Faith hail from Quebec too!
Arcana Noctis: Clear. OK, tell me, which books are your favourites?
Barry: I enjoy reading medieval novels. I recently read two books ("Eragon" and "Eldest") from the Inheritance Trilogy by American author Christopher Paolini and I am eagerly awaiting the third book to be released. He is a fantastic writer and quite young. I believe he was born at the end of 1983 while I was born in the beginning of 1984. To have already wrote two fantastic books and coming out with another one so early in his life is a great achievement. I recommend anybody into medieval novels to read his trilogy. I am a big fan of "Lord Of The Rings" as well. Those are classic...
Arcana Noctis: Let's imagine, you have been awaken in a place amongst Eskimos in north of Canada, you are dumbfounded and can't remember everything. But only thing, that you have got a hockey stick into hands. You don't understand each others due to different languages and the aboriginals looks hostile. What you will do in such an event?
Barry: This is a very good question. I would give the Eskimos the "Metal-horns" sign with my hands and see if they knew what it meant. Then I would flip my hockey stick like it was a guitar and make sounds like I was playing guitar. Perhaps, they like Metal too? What if they don't understand me and try to attack? Well, I have played hockey for 7 years when I was younger and I definitely know how to hurt somebody with a hockey stick.
Arcana Noctis: Every man thinking of demise, rarely but someday such thought might be appeared. How do you want to die?
Barry: How would I like to die? I would like to die burning in a fire. This would prepare me for the fires of hell that await me in the after-life!!
Arcana Noctis: Well, Barry, thanks for interview. The last words are yours.
Barry: Thank you friend. I would just like to add that our official website is located at www.crimsonscythe.com. Anybody is welcome to check it out and give the demo a listen to. Also, feel free to drop us a line at gospel_of_gore@hotmail.com. Until next time, cheers!