By: Rachael Mattice
On February 7, 2012, a death metal band has risen from the chronicles of numerous changes, and centered their expertise with congruent goals and vision to release their first album. Although it has taken them years to master their debut, Nephelium’s ten-year history has taken them on a rugged path that finally produced the independent, self-released album titled ‘Coils of Entropy.’
After multiple lineup changes, the original two members Alan Madhavan on drums, and guitarist Alex Zubair, started Nephelium in Dubai. As life tends to take us different places in the world, it also brought Nephelium to Toronto where they formed the roots for the basis of the band’s future. However many continent changes and personal detriments to our well-being a human can endure, metal in all its beauty brought these men together with perseverance in common. What better time in musicians’ lives than to create music to change the world, an album that was introduced with a mutually symbolic theme of Entropy.
“Our lives as individuals at the time were a whirlwind of chaos, in different aspects,” said bassist Florian Ravet. “We all had personal events and eras in our lives that were significant to us in conjuring up this title. Understand that in that void there is still energy, energy that can be ignited and used to build upon.”
The energy that they used to produce ‘Coils’ can be tasted and seized when blaring the tracks. Whether one uses it for fuel to run a Marine Corps physical fitness test and keep the puke down after the third mile; long distance driving music for hours at end in your pile of garbage car; your meditation de-stressor while you count sheep before bed time; your muscle relaxant to control yourself from punching your boss; your pre- and post-party juice mixer, ‘Coils of Entropy’ will kindle even the smallest burning flame in anyone.
Last in line as the final track on the album, the self-titled song ‘Coils of Entropy’ was the first song Nephelium wrote in Canada with several musical elements in mind to incorporate ten years of turmoil.
“Our journey from when we started through all the times we had back home and the relief of finally being here is something that I definitely feel the song depicts,” said Ravet. “Emotions of chaos and confusion open the song and take the listener down a road of happiness, rage, sadness, more confusion, culture and tradition.”
The thundering double bass by Madhavan has amazing perpetuity, and the traditional Arabian background is sexy in the guitars of James Sawyer and Zubair. This is included again in ‘Halls of Judgment.’ The death metal vocals tend to be spot on behemoth-deep performed by Devlin Anderson, but lacked strength when entering the high range. The rhythm changes seven minutes in demonstrated clarity and discipline to achieve perfect break silences multiple times.
‘Malediction’ takes away some of the speed and conjures an image of giants trudging through pits of weak souls. It is slow, massive, and monstrously evil. The tempo change allows the listener to hear every single instrumental additive and characteristic of the musicians and composition.
Another song labeled ‘Merciless Annihilation’ is the first single for Nephelium with much more signature old school metal hints taken from days past and bands of influence. A little less aesthetically pleasing, the technicality was evident, but was harder to connect with and place in the family with the other songs.
The album as a whole will favor well with the heavy-hearted because the dedication it took to write the riffs and lyrics comes through. Putting the work in to produce a final product that the band was pleased with was parallel to what the target audience would be yearning for.
“We had a clear idea of what we wanted, and since we are very picky and perfectionists, we would not settle for ‘just okay,’ said Ravet. The recording, production and mastering of the album was given to the best people we could find.
“After the album was in the can, we faced some other lineup changes, which led us to once again look for new members, this time making sure that whoever would join the Nephelium ranks will be as committed as the founding members were, and ready to properly promote the album and the band live.”
“Also finding the right artist for the cover art, and another one for the logo design was a quest in itself, following the same pattern of ‘working with the best.’ With Nephelium’s current members, we’re ready to conquer the world for good.”
In the upcoming year, Nephelium plans to start touring in Canada and the United States, and plans to terrorize Europe as well.
To read the rest of Rachael Mattice’s interview with Nephelium bassist Florian Ravet, see below:
Stay tuned for tour dates at Nephelium’s website:
http://nephelium.bandcamp.com/, Facebook page, or Twitter profile.
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1. What was going on in your lives that made you mutually decide on the symbolic album title “Coils of Entropy?”
Our lives as individuals at the time were a whirlwind of chaos, in different aspects obviously. We all had personal events and/or eras in our lives that were significant to us in conjuring up this title in that everything will have an end but even that end will have energy.
2. Since this has taken you a decade to bring together (i.e. line up changes, moving, etc.) what life lessons and themes have you incorporated into this album?
In writing and recording this album and thinking back to all the good times and bad that we went through back home and here, in the wise words of Rob Flynn “The blood, the sweat, the bee…for real though…the tears!” is what will bring you to realize that hard work pays off. In the lyrical content to the layman, the biggest life lesson is that when you feel that everything is “done” for the lack of a better word, understand that in that void there is still energy…energy that can be ignited and used to build upon.
3. What differences in scene, style, and audience do you notice in North America than in other areas of the world?
There is one major attribute that everything related to metal has around the world : DEDICATION. It doesn’t matter where you are, metal fans, bands and scene in general are represented by a horde of die hard metalheads, what varies is the scope.
As far as specifics to the North American scene, the main difference in scope are that availability of content is greater, support from local promoters and media, combined with a relative bigger metal crowd makes networking easier. All in all the exposure of the scene in general has a bigger impact, especially compared with the way we used to struggle to get our metal growing up in Dubai.
But this can be shaped like a double edged sword : overabundance of content makes it harder for a band to get to the right audience, and metal fans who have too much to choose from might be missing out on what they really want.
It’s all relative of course, and the scene is always evolving in other parts of the world.
Nephelium is eager to tour the world and experience more of the global scene to be able to answer this question with more insight in the near future !
4. Where do you find yourselves or what do you seem to be doing when you get an idea for a song/riff/lyric?
Ideas can pop up anytime, literally, and this is not limited to the jam time where we get together. We could be humming a riff or idea at work and put it down, coming home to either video record it or tab it to send it to our band mates. Same with lyrics or theme ideas: it could happen while driving, in the middle of night and we would connect via email to start brainstorming before the next practice session comes up where we can start piecing it all together. Come to think of it, we are spoiled with technology these days; things can be really easy to share ideas together.
5. For someone whom has never heard or seen you live, what is a signature characteristic of your set style?
It is very, very tight. We have worked and practiced hard to have a live sound similar to the album, with the added energy and power of stage performance. We’re no sissies either when it comes to headbanding (our bass player especially goes totally nuts on stage). At least that’s what we heard from feedback from our shows, but hey: don’t take our word for it and judge for yourself when Nephelium comes to rip the stage in a town near you ;)
6. What is a ritual some of you follow post performance? (Saying lots of alcohol is a given, not an answer I am looking for)
Ha ha! Well, actually not all of us are active drinkers –not that we can’t have fun- But usually after packing the gear (top priority after a set!) we like to interact with fans, the crowd and other bands, especially when playing away from home, that’s an experience that beats any drink! Of course we also take time to recollect on the day’s performance and try to learn how we can do even better next time.
7. What message did you want portrayed in your album artwork? Everyone perceives it differently, but what is it Nephelium aspires to tell the audience?
Yes, and by reading the lyrics, our preface and narrative on the physical CD, one can understand a bit more about the artwork, even though we voluntarily left some things opened to interpretation. We wanted to provide something different, but still in the “old school” vibe of Death Metal, without falling into overused “gore” clichés, all by staying true to the album’s theme and Nephelium’s main philosophy. By the way the artwork was done by artist Juanjo Castellano from Spain: that guy’s THE shit
8. If you had the opportunity, whom would you like to tour with and why?
There are so many great bands we’d like to hit the road with, but we all agree that if there was one band we had to pick if we could, it would be AEON. That’s one of the bands that really represent the true, modern spirit of Death Metal in our books. These guys rule!
9. Where do you plan to tour in the next year to promote the album?
We’ll start close to home in Canada, stretch to the States and North America, and hopefully push towards Europe if all goes according to the plan we have worked so hard towards. Nothing is set in stone, we are still tying up some loose ends, but we can tell you for sure that Nephelium will be a touring band
10. All of the tracks have amazing self-descriptions and additives of their own, but the self-titled track seems to stand out for a reason. I hear the Arabian roots and I love it. Being the longest track on the album, what is the tangled story that took place in your minds when you concocted this?
As this was the first track we wrote in Canada and with our first Canadian members, we went all out in all lyrical themes and musical elements technically and brutally; this was the “jack of all trades” track if you will. Our journey from when we started through all the times we had back home and the relief of finally being here is something that I definitely feel the song depicts. Emotions of chaos and confusion open the song and take the listener down a road of happiness, rage, sadness, more confusion, culture and tradition…every idea in that song meant something deeper than just “a riff” or “beat” to the person who contributed it.
11. This took a decade to finally piece together an album for release, what was the recording process like and what obstacles did you have to overcome to get a finished product you were all content with?
Moving from the United Arab Emirates to Dubai, finding new members, and some financial difficulties (let’s be honest here: everyone struggles at some point!) set us back.
We had a clear idea of what we wanted, and since we are very picky and perfectionists, we would not settle for “just okay”. So the recording, production and mastering of the album was given to the best people we could find.
After the album was in the can, we faced some other lineup changes, which led us to once again look for new members, this time making sure that whoever would join the Nephelium ranks will be as committed as the founding members were, and ready to properly promote the album and the band live.
Also finding the right artist for the cover art, and another one for the logo design was a quest in itself, following the same pattern of “working with the best”.
Lots of lessons learned along the way, and we got better as musicians in the process.
Good thing is that with Nephelium’s current members we’re ready to conquer the world for good (picky and humble we are...), but rest assured that our next album won’t take as long to finalized as this one, now that the gears are in motion and the right people collaborating with us. We won’t rush too much either, did we mention we’re picky?
Thank you for answering my questions, and I wish you the best of luck in your release and tour(s). I’ll spread the word about you!
Well thank YOU Rachael for giving Nephelium the opportunity to expose ourselves to your audience (… that doesn’t sound “dirty”, does it?). Seriously: it is people like you are the blood of the metal scene worldwide. Without you: fans, bands and every metalhead would be missing out on a lot of awesome heavy shit. So thanks again!
Rachael Mattice
US Correspondent and Columnist
MetalTalk.Net
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NEWS RELEASE
Montreal, QC - Jan 31, 2012
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Facebook | Reverbnation | Twitter | Youtube | Myspace | Bandcamp | Last.fm NEPHELIUM Streaming Upcoming Album "Coils of Entropy" On MetalRecusants.com
Nephelium, the Dubai death metallers whom now reside in Toronto, Canada are now exclusively streaming their highly anticipated debut album "Coils of Entropy" on MetalRecusants.com at the following link here.
"Coils of Entropy" is set for release next week on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 and a free download of their first single "Merciless Annihilation" is available here (http://www.reverbnation.com/nephelium)
Single Stream Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRE2UpktFdg
CD Cover Design: Juanjo Castellano (JuanCastellano.com)
Logo Design: Christopher Horst
Logo Design: Christopher Horst
1. Burial Ground 05:04
2. Merciless Annihilation 06:18
3. Hellborne 05:02
4. Malediction 08:52
5. Halls of Judgment 05:56
6. Coils of Entropy 10:15
2. Merciless Annihilation 06:18
3. Hellborne 05:02
4. Malediction 08:52
5. Halls of Judgment 05:56
6. Coils of Entropy 10:15
In additional news, NEPHELIUM will be headlining this year's "Carnage In Cambridge", a mini death metal fest put on by local metal website Brutal Sickness. The fest will take place on Saturday, Feb 11th at 515 Concert Club (39 Queen St East) in Cambridge, ON and will see the band perform alongside local Ontario bands Nexortus, Serene Molestation, Rotting Entrails, Xyphos, Fetal Exhumation, Decimate. (facebook event - http://www.facebook.com/events/327480633948339)
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Nephelium – Coils of Entropy – 2012
Official Release Date: February 7, 2012
R.I.Y.L. – Cannibal Corpse, Death, Deicide, Vader, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Aeon, Nile, Kronos, Suffocation
Digital Download and Physical CD can be requested at ashermedia(@)gmail.com
“Brutal, sludgy, precise, dark, atmospheric, and surprisingly catchy, Nephelium tackle death metal with the precision of a surgeon’s hand, or a Jigsaw trap. If you’re looking for some new death metal to sink your teeth into, this is it….“Merciless Annihilation,” an intricate, tough-as-nails, riff-ridden, technical masterpiece.” – Yell! Magazine
"Just straight up ripping, pummeling, brutal groovy death metal — no bells and whistles, just the way I like it." - MetalSucks.net
“If you’re tired of the same old shit, then it’s time to try something different and Nephelium certainly gave me that fix.” – WeLoveMetal.com
“It’s brutal, it’s in your face, it’s new but old, it’s a must have in any metal heads library.” – XplosiveMetal.com
"If you are a fan of death metal and like fast arrangements and tempo changes with blast beats and brutal riffs then this band is for you. Check out “Coils of Entropy”" - MetalDelirium.net
“These guys hit it on the head, they nailed it. Its brutal and complex and definitely in your face” – MetalTitans.com
“A fast-moving blast wave of hot shrapnel, with brutally addictive rhythms, flashy guitar leads and solos” – NoCleanSinging.com
“It’s brutal shit done right….Nephelium is one of the many examples of a death metal band that plays the fuck out of their instruments, plays the fuck out of them well. Highlights: “Hellborne”, “Malediction”, and “Halls Of Judgement”" – Metalstorm.net
“Instrumental brutality and a hearty sound of turbocharged guise.” – Metal.de
“Brutal In Your Face Metal That Wants to Kick You In The Teeth!!!” – SPV and Metalville Records
“WOW!!! This is what I call Crunchy!!! And it applys to both Guitars and Vocal Sounds!!! This Band embodies CRUNCH!!!” – Patrick Loisel – Guitarist for AUGURY
“Sounds Great! Raw and Brutal!!!” – Andy Larocque – Guitarist for KING DIAMOND and DEATH
Album Credits:
• All songs written & performed by: Nephelium
• Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Darius Szcepaniak
• Mastered by Steve Benford
• Recorded at Rouge Valley Studios (Toronto)
• Single released: Burial Ground
• CD Cover Design: Juanjo Castellano (JuanCastellano.com)
• Logo Design: Christopher Horst
• Label: Self Release
• Distribution: Self Release
• UPC Code #: 0 8890720842 2
• All songs written & performed by: Nephelium
• Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Darius Szcepaniak
• Mastered by Steve Benford
• Recorded at Rouge Valley Studios (Toronto)
• Single released: Burial Ground
• CD Cover Design: Juanjo Castellano (JuanCastellano.com)
• Logo Design: Christopher Horst
• Label: Self Release
• Distribution: Self Release
• UPC Code #: 0 8890720842 2
Shared Stage w/
• Deicide
• Augury
• Neuraxis
• Beneath The Massacre
• Crimson Shadows
• Starring Jane Leigh
• Blackguard
• Warmachine
• Deicide
• Augury
• Neuraxis
• Beneath The Massacre
• Crimson Shadows
• Starring Jane Leigh
• Blackguard
• Warmachine
Discography
2003 – Ignite The Wrath of Silence – EP
2002 – Archaic Malevolent Sorcery – Demo
2003 – Ignite The Wrath of Silence – EP
2002 – Archaic Malevolent Sorcery – Demo
Dutchie
****with friendly permission by www.metaltalk.net Dutch Michaels***
