ALASTOR (RidingEasy Records) share first single from triumphant forthcoming album 'Onwards and Downwards

Swedish rock band Alastor share the first single from their forthcoming album Onwards and Downwards today via Metal Injection. Hear and share "Death Cult" via Metal Injection. (Direct YouTube and Bandcamp.)

Excelsior! It’s the hail of yore that one should go ever onward and upward. And so, fittingly Onwards and Downwards is the occultist Swedish band Alastor’s clever call to arms… and also a reflection of our collective dark state of mind these days.

“If our last album Slave to the Grave were about death, this record is more about madness,” says guitarist Hampus Sandell. “You can look at the whole record as one person’s gradual slip into insanity. An ongoing nightmare without end. It also sums up the state of the world around us as this year has clearly shown.”

Alastor is heavy doom rock for the wicked and depraved. Drenched in heavy, distorted darkness and steeped in occult horror that will make your skin crawl and ears cry sweet tears of blood, the band is revitalized in 2021 with meticulously crafted songs and new drummer Jim Nordström bringing a hard-hitting and precise energy. 

“It’s a more focused record but at the same time it’s more personal and naked. More raw emotion and pain,” Hampus says. The band recorded the album with the help of Joona Hassinen of Studio Underjord, who has helped with mixing since their ”Blood on Satan’s Claw” EP in 2017. Christoffer Karlsson of The Dahmers also assisted with overdubs and encouraged the band to demo the material early on, aiding in the album’s more deliberate and tighter feel.

From the first note of opener “The Killer In My Skull” the guitars are far thicker and out front than ever, and Nordström pummels the snare and kick like a young Dave Grohl. Bassist/vocalist Robin Arnryd’s chorus-drenched voice soars above it all like a one-man choir, at times harmonizing beautifully with shimmering Hammond organ notes. Nary a moment is wasted on the droning navel-gazing of lesser bands. Particularly, the driving anthem “Death Cult” which sounds like it would fit comfortably on QOTSA’s Songs For The Deaf, though there’s considerably more heft here. The title track pays its due to the Devil’s tritone in a marvelously woven framework of intertwining melodies befitting the album’s theme of descent into madness.

The quartet released its epic 3-song debut album Black Magic in early 2017 via Twin Earth Records, followed by the 2-track “Blood On Satan’s Claw” EP on Halloween the same year. Joining forces with RidingEasy Records in 2018, Alastor summoned the 7-track hateful gospel Slave To The Grave, which was packed with dynamic twists and turns, and funereal girth. It was met with considerable praise, setting the stage for the band’s greatest step onward (and upward… or downward, depending on your preferences.)

Onwards and Downwards will be available on LP, CD and download on May 28th, 2021 via RidingEasy Records.

Artist: Alastor
Album: Onwards and Downwards
Label: RidingEasy Records
Release Date: May 28, 2021

01. The Killer In My Skull
02. Dead Things In Jars
03. Death Cult
04. Nightmare Trip
05. Pipsvängen
06. Onwards and Downwards
07. Lost and Never Found

On The Web:

facebook.com/alastordoom
alastordoom.bandcamp.com
ridingeasyrecords.com

An Interview with ALASTOR

We did the interview with Norwegian band Devil just few days ago, so it’s natural to continue with their Swedish neighbors Alastor for which debut album “Black Magic” was released by Twin Earth Records recently.

Our chief editor Steve already reviewed this record but I invite you to take a trip deeper in the blurred and fuzzy realm of Alastor’s hypnotic and highly psychedelic doom. Their guitarist H is our guide tonight.

Hi H! Thanks for the time you find to answer my questions. There aren’t many facts known about the band, so how did it all started?

Alastor started like any other band really. We started rehearsing in the summer of 2016, did our first gig a few months later and recorded our first EP in late 2016/early 2017. Nothing special really.

Well, I didn’t find information of Alastor’s current lineup, so who’s on board? What’s your musical background?

We have all been active in bands before Alastor but none who are relevant to Alastor. Who’s on board or who isn’t is not as important as the music itself. Although I can tell that music has been a huge part of our lives as long as we can remember. Whether it’s playing an instrument, listening to a record or seeing a band live. It’s what gets us through the day.

I found 7 heavy bands named Alastor, and I can understand why this name is so popular. How did you choose it? Did you have other variants back then?

Alastor was the first name we came up with when the band took form. We knew that there were other bands that shared this name but none of which bare any resemblance to our music. The name ”Alastor” can be translated to ”enemy” or ”avenger” so we thought it was suiting to our music. Alastor is in many ways our way of getting back at society.

Twin Earth Records is going to release your debut album “Black Magic”, what’s the story of your relationship with the label?

Twin Earth Records contacted us soon after the digital release of the track Black Magic and wanted to release the other tracks on the label. We felt that the label understood us and the direction we wanted to take as a band so we thought that we would fit right in with the rest of the Twin Earth family.

Alastor – Black Magic

The album consists of three massive heavy songs, how long did you work over this material and how did it take this form?

The songs have all taken shape in our rehearsal. Hours of jamming and jamming to get a form that we feel satisfied with. In a way all songs form themselves over time, the hardest part is to know when the songs are final, in some cases they never are. The song Black Magic was in fact the easiest song to write as it almost wrote itself. I guess the dark energies worked through us on the day that we wrote that song.

I guess that we can tag Alastor as psychedelic doom band, so what are your main “psychedelic” and “doom” influences? What does inspire you to write this sort of music?

Contrary to what you might think we are not huge connoisseurs of doom music, sure there are exceptions but overall there are not many new bands in the genre that we feel inspired by. I think the main thing that drives us to play this kind of music is the feeling of trance we get when we jam our songs in the rehearsal. There is something extremely soothing and hypnotic about standing in front of a high powered rig and drone on one riff for hours and hours. Maybe we are all just to slow and lazy to play death metal. As for psychedelia, Pink Floyd and Camel are huge inspirations for me.

As it seems that you prefer really distorted sound… well, what do you find appealing in sounding like that?

Well the quickest answer to that is that it just makes the music more analog and alive. We don’t strive to achieve perfection when it comes to musical skill or sound, we’d rather have a breathing sound with lots of distortion and feedback. In a way you could say that there's an ongoing struggle between us and the sound emitting from our amplifiers. We are just trying to tame the beasts within them and I think that has a certain charm as the songs will always sound slightly different each time we play them.

“Black Magic” is the name which is natural for heavy doom music, but what does it mean to you? Do you believe into it yourself?

We wanted a short and concise title for the album. We already had the song ”Black Magic” and thought about naming the album something else but decided that the title in many ways symbolize what we wanted to create. What it actually means to us is something that we all have a personal bond with, something that we are all interested in. Let’s leave it there..

What kind of message do you put in your lyrics? What are your songs about?

We don’t try to limit ourselves in what we feel falls under the moniker of Alastor. Some of our lyrics deal with very personal experiences that we have gone through. It’s a very cheap kind of therapy really.

Photo by Karin Haglund

What are your plans for 2017?

Write more songs and play as many shows as we can. That and watch society crumble around us of course. Alastor takes up much of our time but this is what we all want to do even if it consumes us.

Words by Aleks Evdokimov and H

https://alastordoom.bandcamp.com/releases

https://twinearthrecords.bandcamp.com/album/black-magic

https://www.facebook.com/alastordoom/

Alastor - Black Magic (Album Review)

Release date: March 11^th 2017 – CD/DD. Vinyl – Summer 2017. Label: Twin Earth Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Black Magic – Tracklisting

Enemy

Nothing To Fear

Black Magic

Review

Alastor debut album - Black Magic is one built on pure Black Sabbath amplifier worship with modern touches of Psych, Doom and Stoner Metal. There are only three songs on the album with the shortest being on for eight minutes or so. The other two run for eleven and fourteen minutes each.

Opening track - Enemy - is the first epic song as Alastor blend heavy sounding riffs played at a heavy slow pace. The vocals have a classic feel to them with them almost being drowned out by the heavy stoner sounds. The EP has a creepy and occult rock vibe running throughout. It's a sound we've heard multiple times before already but this is still an exciting album for Alastor to impress the listener with. 

Alastor move into heavier psychedelic sounds with the band focusing primarily on the instrumental side of their music. This allows Alastor opt for a more riff-driven Stoner Metal atmosphere. It's still a very gloomy song but the band does play a very cool and epic riff towards the end of the song.

Second track - Nothing To Fear - sees Alastor add a certain SLEEP style sonic projectory to their music with the guitars having a more distorted tone. The vocals drift in and out at different times for perhaps the standout song on the album. The riffs are played at a cool pace with the different guitars working side by side for a superb sounding experience. The psychedelic vibe feels influenced by the earlier sounds of Uncle Acid with the vocals having a certain experimental approach.

The final track - Black Magic - is a fourteen minute epic where Alastor goes all out in creating heavy doom/stoner sounds. This is perhaps the loudest song on the record and one that people will enjoy the most. It's more of the same classic Black Sabbath inspired riffs first heard on the opening song. The lead vocalist shows his impressive vocal range as he reaches some very high notes.

The lyrics add a superb creepy and occult rock touch with the band finally starting to create huge noises of their own. Black Magic is a superbly produced with it having a classic vintage feel to it. Alastor should be proud of this album as it ticks all the right boxes for all true Doom/Stoner Metal fans out there.

The real challenge for the band is to release a worthy follow-up and carry on the great work they've created with Black Magic. Thanks should also go to Twin Earth Records for releasing this record as they've been on a great run recently in releasing quality albums such as this. Long may that continue.

Words by Steve Howe

Black Magic will be available to buy via Twin Earth Records on CD/DD from March 11^th 2017. With the Vinyl being released Summer 2017.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp