CARDINALS FOLLY - Deal with Soulseller Records - New Album 'Live By The Sword' coming on October 27th 2023

The Last Bastion of Doom. Those Finnish witchfinders. The ones that won't let go. The truest of the true. The stubbornest of the stubborn. CARDINALS FOLLY. A groovy trio of which name has been echoing distantly in the metal underground for more than a decade. A wild uncontrollable force moving onwards to another record or another adventure. With relentless riffs, heavy metal hails, ride-or-die attitude and true love for the old school doom and metal.

Hailing from Helsinki, Finland and formed in 2007 by Mikko "Count Karnstein" Kääriäinen (Bass, Vocals) and his back-then compatriots, CARDINALS FOLLY has been captained by Mikko ever since then towards new conquests. After several albums, line-up changes, dramas, label disappointments and tours around the world, the current stellar constellation of "Deranged Pagan Sons" with Juho Kilpelä (Guitar) and Joni Takkunen (Drums) has been ongoing since 2014.

On the upcoming new album "Live By The Sword", the band takes almost all that it finds good in metal and molds it into a tighter mass of unholy riffs, blasphemous pagan chants & choruses, luciferian & lovecraftian depravity and all in all a fearless ride to where the witching cauldrons boil hot and the brews are cool. Ranging from slow epic doom to galloping heavy metal and apocalyptic rock 'n' roll, the band loves to murder the listener with all their might. These past few years of plague and uncertainty have only made them angrier and more determined, resulting in this 42-minute onslaught of doomed heavy metal.

Band leader Mikko comments: "After these past few slightly chaotic years, it's nice to sign with a professional powerhouse like Soulseller Records. We're ready to go, ready to put this powerful bastard of an album out and show the world what we can do. We've done now six albums, and not many bands do six albums. Recently we toured in Norway, USA, Finland, Germany and Italy. It's true love towards this deranged craft and evolving it that keeps us going. I honestly believe we're also one of the few bands to steadily improve from day 1 onwards so far. That's not common either. And right now it seems we're in good hands. In a world under turmoil, I'm proud of what me, Juho and Joni have now created. This is our best album. There's no more to tell, and real action beats all words anyway. Crank it up and blast it as loud as you can. The doomed ones ride out again! Our Cult Continues!"

Links

http://www.soulsellerrecords.com

https://www.facebook.com/SOULSELLERRECORDS 

https://www.instagram.com/soulsellerrecords 

https://www.facebook.com/cardinalsfolly

https://www.instagram.com/cardinalsfolly

Thanks to Sure Shot Worx for all of the details

An Interview wtih Stian Fossum from DEVIL

Devil from Norway started in 2010 with old school fashioned doom rock demo “Megister Mundi Xum”, and its themes were developed just one year later in debut album “Time to Repent”.

Lo-fi production, straightforward approach and few nice melodies didn't create band's reputation, but Devil were soon noticed. “Gather the Sinners” (2013) improved their position in doom rock underground as they improved their skills in more effective songwriting, but other aspects of sophomore album demonstrated that Devil remains the same.

The band conjured over their sound for three more years, and new record “To the Gallows” is the album that deserves the attention of those who are in love with charged NWOBHM and classic doom, even though the last one presents in lesser scale than before. So let's have some fun and try to invoke Devil tonight through modern technologies!

Hi Devil! Who's on line tonight? What's Devil's current occupation?

Hello there! Stian (guitar) here. These days we mostly wait for reviews and the finished products, and doing some nice interviews every now and then. And at this exact moment we’re making a new email address, as we can’t get access to our old one. HA HA.

Your previous album Gather the Sinners was released in 2013, and only now, 4 years after, you return with the third full-length record To The Gallows. Why so long?

We set aim for doing an album every second year, but we actually didn’t have time between work, kids, other obligations, etc. The songs had been more or less finished for a long time, but we used a long time before we went into recordings. But we’re in no rush, so we really don’t mind either.

Devil – To the Gallows

By the way, did you feel that Gather the Sinners brought the band some success, some recognition?

We were happy with it ourselves, but I think it suffered a bit as “the difficult second album”. You know, the moment of surprise was gone, and the scene was flooded with great bands already, and since we don’t do much to promote stuff either, it never reached out. Then again, I think the new album is much better too, so I have higher hopes for this, even though there were some great songs on GtS, such as Southern Sun and Ladies of the Night.

Did you really feel that pressure knowing that there is a lot of new bands who play nearly same way appear in the same period? Did you take it in account when you were writing new material?

No, we really can’t let that influence us. You know, these younger guys and gals have the dreams, ambitions and not least time to put so much more effort into it than us. We’re happy being kinda the old weird uncle of the family. But I do hope we influenced someone down the road!

What do you see as strong sides of Gather the Sinners? How do you see development of Devil's features from the debut album to the second one?

The songwriting on Gather the Sinners is on many occasions more advanced than Time To Repent. Whilst it perhaps lack a little of the “jolly” feeling on Time To Repent. On the new album we like to think we’ve combined the good songwriting with the jolly mood that we’ve been more or less known for. If you can use “known” about a band as small as us, haha.

With new songs you go further to classic heavy metal ideals, as the band is tagged sometimes as a doom metal band. How do you see it?

We started out as PLANNING a doom metal band, but we soon discovered that we would genre wise be all over the place. So I think maybe heavy rock is more describing. But we have some doom songs, of course, such as Beyond the Gate, etc. I think that the more heavy metal edge to this album is because of more influence from Joakim. He was totally new to this band thing when we started, but now he has started to give feedback and input, and he’s a heavy metal guy. And besides, we listen to different stuff from year to year, and maybe we were in a heavy metal place this time.

Are you meaning that Devil is a democratic band and you don't have a main dude who speaks that you need to play here and there?

Very much so. As we talked about earlier, we don’t have the ambitions that demands us to be pushing anything. If I can’t go to let’s say Wacken one year, then we won’t play if we’re offered. The harmony within the group is so much more important than the visions.

To the Gallows have a better production than your previous works, did you consciously took this step further? Was this lo-fi sound of previous albums something that you intended to keep further?

Well, that’s always a tough choice. As a musician you seek to evolve and experience in one direction or another, but the audience always wants you to keep the little something that they fell for in the first place. It’s like a relationship. I once heard that a man goes into a relationship hoping the woman will stay the same, while the woman goes into a relationship hoping the man will change. Haha. Someone will probably take offence by that, but shit in one hand and be offended in the other and see which hand fills up first. However, when recording GtS we used a studio for the first time, for bass guitar and drums. And the guys liked that, so we did the same now. Personally I love the feel of the demo, but it’s no big issue for me. I also don’t think it’s very polished still, so people don’t have to worry we suddenly sounds like Disturbed.

What do you seek to take from NWOBHM era when you write songs for Devil? What are its necessary elements?

We don’t go for anything intentionally. But the title song turned out pretty NWOBHM, so we can’t deny that. Thomas who wrote it was probably in an early Iron Maiden mood. But the elements are always the riff, combined with catchy melody lines, and always searching for the rhythm section adding to the song, rather than keeping the steady beat. I always say to Ronny that he should play the drums as he would play the guitar. Play riffs on the drums. And I think it works.

Where did you record To the Gallows? How did this session differ from previous ones?

Vocals in the rehearsal room, guitars at Kai’s home and bass/drums in Black Dimensions Studios in Karmøy, run by Stein, a good friend of ours.

Did you work with producer or did you trust your tastes enough to do the whole process DIY?

Stein gave us a helping hand with mixing and mastering, other than that we trust ourselves. After all, we have a pretty good idea on how we want it to sound, and we’re not too concerned about what other people might think.

Your songs are usually connected with medieval aesthetics, but here for example you have the songs Trenches. I guess that it is about more modern warfare. What did inspire you to write this one?

Trenches is about trying to put oneself into the situation that a lot of young men experienced in WWI. Of all the nightmarish scenarios during history, I think that one is one of the most terrifying. As for our medieval fascination, I think most of our songs could be set in any era, but there’s something appealing about making the scene for them into the dark ages.

Did you relatives take part in WW II? Do you feel that any sort of music needs to rise up such realistic topics?

Yes, my grandfather died in Bergenbelsen. He fell out of his watchtower. No, seriously, I think it’s alright to break out of the dragons, Vikings and beer dripping universes every now and then. It also adds more punch to the fun stuff, if you can show that you have the ability to be serious. It’s not like we’re clowns 24/7, or lives at the bar.

How would you sum up the general plot of other songs?

Well, to take a few; David and Goliath is about the biblical story. It was actually written for a concept split that never happened. Cemetery Still is about moon-shining (yeehaw). Regulators is inspired by the marvelous western movie Young Guns.

Wow! Even western! Didn’t you ever record a song inspired by horror movies?

Of course. We done a lot of that too. Peasants & Pitchforks are inspired by Frankenstein, to give an example. In Southern Sun from the prior album we even have a reference to the mini series North and South… I know, we’re nerds.

Do you plan a tour to support the release? What are the biggest shows you ever play till now?

We don’t have any plans yet. I am pretty sure we won’t tour, but would be nice to do a couple of gigs at home, and a couple abroad. As you probably remember from tour Sludgelord days, we did some cool shows around the first album. Roadburn, Hammer of Doom, touring with ElWiz, Hole in the Sky, Inferno, Karmøygeddon, etc. All of those were great in their way, but the biggest audience was probably Hammer of Doom.

What does the image of Devil mean for you?

Besides the logo we don’t have much of an image apart from our everyday look. We look the same at work, at parties, on stage, etc. We are kinda deep into this heavy metal lifestyle. It’s nothing we put on together with the guitar.

How did your relatives react when you told them in which band you play? :)

Haha! I don’t think many of my relatives have heard Devil. But I have two nieces and a nephew that thinks it’s cool their uncle plays in a rock band. However they think everything from Nickelback to Cannibal Corpse is Devil when they hear it….

Words by Aleks Evdokimov and Stian Fossum

You can order To The Gallows from Soulseller Records here:

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Interview with Ole Christian Helstad from TOMBSTONES

Norwegian Sludge/Doom Riffsters – Tombstones – have had a busy few years releasing acclaimed albums and non-stop touring. It's to the bands credit that they've released their best album to date with Vargariis. An album that sees the band create some of the heaviest and bleakest riffs of their career.

It's already being acclaimed within the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal community. We rate this album very highly. Our team member – Nick – said this about the album:

“This album is an infused masterpiece of a home brew like quality. There is a great deal going on here and there is much to enjoy over repeated listens. In fact, you can’t listen to this just once. You need to listen to this piece of work several times to really enjoy what has been accomplished for your auditory pleasure. This band is no stranger to stoner rock as evidenced from past releases, but make no mistake, this band is doom.

This band is made up of dirty hippies that own the dark. This musical fungi grows only where Tombstones mark the land. I will not wash my mushrooms before I eat them because I want all the nutrients, but more importantly, because I like the taste of this world. This is an extraordinary endeavour, in span and rendition.”

I was given the chance to speak to Ole Christian Helstad (Bass/Vocals) from the band recently and this is what went down...

Hi Ole. Thanks for doing this interview. How are things with you today.

Hi! Thank you for showing interest in Tombstones! Things are good at the moment. We have pulled the brakes a bit this fall, after a very intensive year.

For people not in the know, can you give a brief explanation on how the band started and where it is today.

Yeah. Tombstones started out almost 10 years ago, with only Bjørn from today’s lineup, and the deceased Jonas, but under a different name. Me (Ole) and our former drummer joined in some year later, after the band had been on hiatus for a while. A demo was recorded soon, and we started playing some live-shows in Norway. In 2009 Jonas died, and Tombstones was left as a three-piece. We recorded “Volume II” late 2009 with Billy Anderson in Oslo, keeping all the songs the way they’d been with the band as a four-piece.

After that record was done, I feel the band had some kind of new birth. Our sound developed into something much much doomier, and we started to feel comfortable being just the three of us. We scored a record deal with Soulseller Records, and released “Year of the Burial” on 420, 2012. “Year of the Burial” put us on the European map, and was given quite some praise, and this eventually led to a gig at Desertfest in London, and our first European tour. 

We didn’t wait long before we recorded “Red Skies and Dead Eyes”, which was released October 2013. This album has brought us to where we are today. We’ve toured Europe 4 times on this record, alongside bands as Eyehategod, Egypt, Witch Mountain, Widows and Church of Misery, and played festivals as Roadburn, Freak Valley, Doom Over Leipzig, Muskelrock++. The last two years have been very busy, but also extremely rewarding and fun.

Our current drummer, Markus, joined in as a stand-in the summer of 2014 at first, but as opportunities kept hitting our inbox, we soon found out he needed to be our regular drummer. The first half of 2015 was spend in our rehearsal space, working super hard to have our new album done before we left for tour in April. We actually played “Vargariis” in its entirety at Roadburn in April, and wanted to play the songs as much as possible live, before recording them. After the April tour we spent our time rehearsing again, before we left on another tour with Egypt in May, still playing all the new songs live.

Then we entered Studio Underjord in the middle of the woods in Sweden, and had everything done within 3,5 days. And here we are today.

Congrats on your new album. Vargariis. Perhaps your best album yet. What can people expect from the album.

Thanks a lot. We are very happy with the outcome. It’s much darker than our previous albums, more in-your-face, raw and direct. More aggressive even. Stripped down production. It’s a heavy piece of music.

Why did you call the album Vargariis.

There’s no deeper meaning to it. I think it’s a title we thought of on the road with Egypt this summer. We like the word a lot, and it mirrors our Norse heritage. There’s also a two-headed wolf on the back cover of the album, which is given a name and meaning with the title.

It’s a different album to your previous albums. As it features some of your heaviest and darkest riffs to date. Was that the intention to release something different for your new album.

Both yes, and no. We had an idea after the release of “Red Skies” that we would take the band into darker and more in-your-face territory, since our taste in music is always evolving. The change of drummer also invited us to think different. He had a strong creative impact of the songs, and a different approach to the riffs than Bjørn and me were used to. So it turned out to be a sweet and organic change.

Was it a hard or easy album to write and record for.

No, I wouldn’t say that. As soon as we got going, it happened very fast. We worked well and effective at rehearsals, as well as recording every idea. That was a bit of a revolution for us, since we never did that earlier.

It’s getting some fantastic praise already. Has that surprised you the responses it’s received so far.

We’ve had some really good reviews so far, yes. It’s been overwhelming.. But there’s some bad ones lurking around the web, as there always will be. We are surprised of the depth of some of the reviews, we really are. Also of how on point, in terms of our own perception of the album, some are. But we are proud over “Vargariis”, and we think it’s our best album to date, easily.

Your last album – Red Skies And Dead Eyes – won some serious praise as well. It got you noticed a lot more within the Doom/Stoner/Sludge Metal community. Did you notice that yourselves.

Yes, for sure. We have been touring Europe four times, in addition to a UK-tour and a Scandinavian tour after that album. It also brought us to the festivals we’ve been dreaming of playing for years. Very happy about the current situation, and hopefully “Vargariis” will bring us even further.

You toured extensively for that album. Will you be a touring a lot for Vargariis.

I think so, yes. There’s some killer plans on the table for next summer that I Can’t speak of at this moment. We love being on tour. That’s by far the best part of being in a band. It’s pretty hard to say right now what this album will do for us, since those things tend to happen along the way, but we sure hope to tour as much as we’re used to. The states would have been cool eventually. We’ll start with some gigs around Norway, which we haven’t been doing for years.

You’ve played a lot of gigs and festivals over the last few years. Which audiences have been your favourite and why. Or are you treated the same wherever you perform.

That’s a really hard question. Both club shows and festivals are equally awesome, and both tours we did in 2015 have been very well attended almost everywhere we went. If I have to choose, I must say the best crowds were at Roadburn and Freak Valley. Insane experiences both of them, Freak Valley even if it was before noon in the morning. But we also LOVE playing everywhere in Austria. Such great treatment and crowds. Same goes for Germany and Switzerland, and Paris, and Copenhagen, and Gothenburg.. The list goes on.

Tombstones are a quite a prolific band. As you’ve released 5 records over the last 6 years. Do you guys ever rest or are you the type of band who just want to start recording the next record after the new one has been released.

We have released 3 albums to this point. “Vargariis” will be our fourth. We don’t know why so many always think we have released another one. “Volume I” was just a demo, and was never released. Yes, we find time to rest. It’s needed. After the recording of “Vargariis” in July , we have only played a couple of live shows. The last couple of years have been quite heavy, so we needed to re-charge, and find motivation again. At least I did. And during those times new riffs and ideas have a tendency to appear.

Is Tombstones your full time job. Or do you have other full time jobs to contend with. If you do, how hard is to participate with Tombstones at times.

I wish. I don’t even think it’s realistic to think about a band like ours as a possible full time job. I don’t know, maybe in our genre Sleep, Melvins, Sunn and bands of that size can live off of it, but I don’t know. We sure as hell can’t. It can be hard to make it work with girlfriends, day-jobs, and on top of that to have some time off in general, but we are blessed with awesome employers, who make sure we can do almost everything we want. Almost. If it weren’t for them, we’d be screwed.

What’s the song-writing dynamic with the band. Is it down to individuals or do you all work on the songs together.

It’s a nice combination of those two. We have worked much more as a collective on “Vargariis” than on the previous albums, but we still bring riffs to rehearsals that we’ve worked on by ourselves.

What inspired you to become a musician. Any particular band, musician or albums that made you think – Yeah, That’s what I want to do.

For me, it started as a teenager growing up skateboarding and listening to skate-punk. I went to as much gigs as I could manage, living in the countryside, and I think I’ve had that dream ever since. In the early days Swedish bands such as Millencoliln, Mindjive, Raised Fist etc were huge inspirations, alongside US-bands like NOFX, Lagwagon, Strung Out++. These days I would say my two favorite bands are Melvins and Amenra. Both on record, and from the stage. Both bands will make your jaw drop. Intense.

With 2015 drawing to a close, what have been your fave records you’ve listened to this year.

Hm, difficult question. I’m not a champ when comes to checking out all new music, but the ones I’ve listened to the most this year is First Aid Kit’s Stay gold, but that’s from 2014.. and also Weezer’s new album, but that’s also 2014.. From this year I’d have to say Elder-Lore, and the new Uncle Acid. As for 2016, I have huge expectations for the new Egypt album. Those guys kill it.

Do you have any words of wisdom for your fans out there.

Check out our new album, and keep coming to our gigs when we hit your area, and keep going to gigs in general. Music is freedom!

Well guys, thanks for doing this interview. All the best with Vargariis as it’s a stunning record

Thank you so much for your support! - Lots of love from Oslo!

Words by Steve Howe and Ole Christian Helstad

Thanks to Jan at Sure Shot Worx for arranging this interview. Thanks to Ole for taking the time out to talking to us.

Vargariis will be available to buy from Soulseller Records on CD/DD from December 4th 2015. The Double Gatefold Vinyl will be available to buy from January 2016.

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