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STORM UPON THE MASSES - CRUSHER OF SOULS
Every demo is being re-released by a so-called label these days. Said labels are pretty worthless. Whether it is just recycling material out of the underground or taking an act’s already recorded material, banding together with three other labels to press 200 CDs, these entities are as useful as a vitamin detector at McDonalds.
This may be why Belgium-based Storm Upon The Masses has gone the indie route. They are not missing anything. This thing has a full length, sounds great and hits like an atom bomb.
Excessive Retaliation begins with a quotation from The Last Mohicans, but before that there is Balrog appearing on the cover. The gigantic frightful demon is a metaphor for the band’s crushing music. Sifting through the crunchy sound, the brutal slamming death, the deep vocals, ripping guitars and impressively distorted bass, what attracted my attention right away was the hefty bass drums, which for once is less clicky than the average rattling sound of today’s kick drums. The same can be said of the heavy snare sound. Nice. No pots and pans when storming the masses. Then the band has the bulldozer heavy riffs and the tsunami of speed for an impressive concoction. The boys mix both to good effect inclusive of the delicious time changes. The distorted bass is sometimes reminiscent of the bass from Kataklysm’s Sorcery. Unleash The Demonic Surge does exactly that and again those blast beats and that bass sound! The title track is brilliant and wipes the floor with 100 Amaranthe fans. See that process depicted in the lyric video for the song Murderous Exhibition. Cauldron Of Carnage is for speed fans. Warfare Ungodly has a comparable riff to Cauldron… and, yup, similarly goes for the jugular.
Everyone contributes to this slab of deathly Belgian brutality, but the drums are somehow the star of this show. It is nothing promiscuous and sticks to the confines of metal; just insanely meaty, deathly and brutal. Despite the growls, the vocalist is not difficult to understand and could often be made out. This release is an impressive blasting effort from these former hardcore musicians and not to mention the band knows a thing or two when it proclaims, "Brutal death metal from Belgium is better than music.” - Ali “The Metallian”

Interviews

Do you like your music to be fast and heavy enough to feel simultaneously as if it has slammed into your face like a ton of bricks and a bullet train has made contact with your frontal lobe? Well, you are in luck because it is not a coincidence that the Belgium-based death metal band is called Storm Upon The Masses. The quintet has a full-length called Crusher Of Souls and Ali “The Metallian” invited guitarist Sandro Di Cairano into the hallowed halls of Metallian Towers to find out more. Sandro’s companion Crusher, in the meanwhile, occupied himself in the bailey as the two spoke within. - 07.04.2024

METALLIAN: Sandro, welcome to Metallian Towers. Recognizing that the band is still not a well-known one, would you introduce Storm Upon The Masses to the readers?
SANDRO: Thanks for having us. Storm Upon The Masses is a brutal death metal band from Belgium, dedicated to pure and uncompromising death metal the way it was meant to be played, ferocious, fast, brutal and above all extreme. Influenced by legendary acts such as Dying Fetus, Krisiun, Aborted, Suffocation… our music is a relentless blend of blistering speed and headbang-inducing groove.

METALLIAN: How much of an active band is Storm Upon The Masses? The group is not prolific exactly.
SANDRO: Admittedly, we haven’t been as prolific as some other bands in the scene and there are reasons behind that. Our debut album The Ones Who Came Back was released over six years ago and the writing process for the follow-up was severely slowed down due to several line-up changes. However, as of late 2022, we are back with a steady line-up and things have started to run smoothly again. You can expect to hear a lot more from us in the future.

METALLIAN: Let's talk about the shiny new release by the band, Crusher Of Souls. What do you have against Amaranthe fans? The music would be torture for them at best and deadly at worst.
SANDRO [Laughingly]: while Amaranthe might not exactly be our cup of tea, it’s always a good thing to keep an open mind within the metal scene. Crusher Of Souls is undoubtedly written by, and for, brutal death metal fans, so we can understand it might be a bit outside of the comfort zone for those who aren’t familiar with the style. However, everyone is welcome at our shows regardless of their musical preference. Who knows, some of these Amaranthe fans just might find something to enjoy in the ferocity of Storm Upon The Masses?

METALLIAN: My hunch is that the only thing Amaranthe fans would find is uncontrollable and unfathomable pain and fear. Moreover, our credo here at Metallian Towers is to keep a closed mind when it comes to poppy molasses. As such, Amaranthe fans are unwelcome at Metallian. Back to Storm Upon The Masses, let's talk about a couple of things, vocally and musically. The band is independent, but the sound is big. What are the circumstances around the recording and what was the band aiming for?
SANDRO: Crusher Of Souls marks a significant evolution in our recording process compared to our debut album, for which we used home recordings. This time around, the entire album was recorded, mixed and mastered at a professional studio setting, teaming up with Yarne Heylen at Project Zero Studio where Carnation, Schizophrenia, When Plagues Collide and others have worked. The goal was to deliver a massive in-your-face production and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. We’re particularly satisfied with how much better the drums and vocals turned out.

METALLIAN: Agreed. Something that was noticeable is how much ‘oomph’ the drums in general, and bass drums in particular, have. This is unusual these days where bass drums sound like, and have all the power of, a pencil hitting a desk or something.
SANDRO: Of course our drummer gave it 110% in the studio, but besides that we trusted Yarne to tweak the sound to something unique yet fitting the genre. And, to be honest, we were blown away already with the first mix he sent. The only thing we asked to tweak is to brighten up the snare a bit more. As far as the kicks go, indeed, they sound real beefy. It kind of reminds us of Aeon Bleeding The False’s unique beefy kick sound. And having the drums sound like Nils ‘Dominator’ Fjellstrom is never a bad thing (smiles).

METALLIAN: The riffs on Cauldron Of Carnage and Warfare Ungodly - cool titles by the way - are quite similar. Thoughts?
SANDRO: That’s a compelling observation, as this is the first time someone has pointed this out to us. It’s certainly not something we planned in the writing process. Having spent countless hours writing and rehearsing these tracks ourselves, I can’t necessarily say I would agree on this topic, but it is interesting to hear how the songs can be perceived differently by a fresh set of ears. That’s why we’re looking forward to hearing feedback from fans once the album drops and finding out if they notice things in the songs that we might have overlooked ourselves.

METALLIAN: That is a fair reaction on your part, Sandro. Vocal and lyric-wise, it looks like the band eschews refrains and choruses.
SANDRO: Like many bands in our genre, we tend not to hold on to a fixed song structure. Instead, we write riffs that fit our style and make sure each song has both fast-paced sections as well as some groove parts. If this process results in a song with refrains and choruses that we can get behind, that’s fine, but it’s never the main goal when we start writing. Most of the songs you hear on the album developed over the course of the writing process and were subject to multiple revisions until we were satisfied.

METALLIAN: While we are here, let's touch on the lyrics. Is being horrific a function of Storm Upon The Masses? Demons and dying are everywhere.
SANDRO: We’re not horrific just for the sake of being horrific. Yes, we’ve always been keen on topics of horror, darkness and demonic/apocalyptic events, but we try to make sure every song tells some sort of a story, rather than just being a summary of evil-sounding words or brutal phrases.
With the new album, we put equal emphasis on the demonic and apocalyptic theme, as well as stories of violence and gore. Take Cauldron Of Carnage for instance. It deals with the crimes of infamous serial killer and cult leader Adolfo Constanzo and serves as a reminder that reality can be far more brutal than any kind of fiction.

METALLIAN: Speaking of demons, Balrog makes an appearance on the album. What's the royalty rate that you have to pay him? 
SANDRO [Laughingly]: I can see the resemblance between our Crusher and the dreaded Balrog, but I can assure you it is not the same creature. We had a pretty specific vision for the artwork and teamed up with graphic designer Lordigan who has worked with Kreator, Amon Amarth, Analepsy et cetera to bring that vision to life. All in all, we have to say we’re very pleased with the outcome.
Interestingly, it was Lordigan himself who suggested giving the Crusher a rock-like texture, which might have added to the similarity with the Balrog. As for royalty rates, fortunately, we haven’t had to negotiate with any ancient demons yet. But who knows, Balrog seems like the kind of guy that could appreciate a slab of brutal death metal, so he might just cut us a deal (smiles).

METALLIAN: Crusher Of Souls is not on a label. With so many of them around, I have no doubt you could find one - not to mention the quality of the material - but at the same time, I consider most of the so-called record companies useless. They are basically pressers of 250 CDs and 100 LPs nowadays. How do you see the situation with labels out there and was it your deliberate intent to issue Crusher yourself?
SANDRO: We did explore potential partnerships with different labels, but ultimately we made a conscious decision to release Crusher Of Souls independently. One of the reasons is that, by doing so, we maintain control over the timing, allowing us to synchronise the release with our performance at Brutal Swamp Fest in France. Additionally, we considered the offers we received from different labels, but none of them could dissuade us from trying an independent approach for the album.

METALLIAN: On my part, given the final product, your approach has yielded no down-side, Sandro. In the same context, is it your intention to have a label repress Crusher Of Souls like everybody else does?
SANDRO: Crusher of Souls will be made available by us in the form of digipaks, 12” vinyl and a limited batch of cassette tapes. There will not be a label repress. Having decided on an independent release, we have no intention of changing our strategy halfway through. However, we are open to exploring options for distributing our stock through third parties to broaden the availability to a wider audience.
As far as future releases go, we’re definitely open to potential partnerships with a label, if an opportunity arises that benefits both the band and the label. Ultimately, our goal is to share our music with as many listeners as possible.

METALLIAN: Sounds logical and prudent, Sandro. Let me zoom out for a moment. Death metal, and the extreme metal scene in general, are not what they once were. In my opinion, everything is diluted nowadays. What do you think?
SANDRO: I think music, in general, is always evolving, and extreme metal is no exception to this rule. This might be why one could argue that things are not as good they once were, but in my opinion this is a false assumption. I think there has always been a steady stream of both quality releases as well as less remarkable albums. Obviously, music from the first category stands the test of time while music from the latter fades into oblivion, and this might be the reason we get nostalgic when looking back.
In general, I am not too concerned with the current state of the heavy music scene. Just in the past year or so, I've witnessed phenomenal releases from established acts like Suffocation, Cattle Decapitation, Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse, Hideous Divinity and many more, all of whom are still going strong. Furthermore, the underground scene is thriving with new and promising bands emerging on a regular basis, both locally and internationally. In my opinion, it’s equally important to keep supporting the established acts that we love and grew up with, as well as actively seek out new and exciting talent in order to keep the scene moving forward.

METALLIAN: Belgium and the EU are in the midst of a farmer's protest and crisis. I'd be interested in hearing your take and perspective on what is transpiring.
SANDRO: That’s definitely a complex matter, and probably one without a single definitive solution. Obviously, the concerns about fair pay and overregulation are legitimate, but whether the methods employed during protests are the best way to achieve their goal is up for debate. I truly respect bands that use their platform to express their beliefs, whether it be through interviews, on stage or in their lyrics. However, as a band, Storm Upon The Masses prefers not to delve too deeply into political issues and instead focuses on music as a unifying force. I think it’s a great thing that people with completely conflicting political views can share a beer and bond over a common passion such as brutal music.

METALLIAN: Here at Metallian Towers, being united is not a concern, Sandro. After all, two opposing assertions cannot both be right. There is only one fact. So, for instance, we cannot care about an Amaranthe fan claiming the band is metal or someone who says the COVID vaccine has a transmitter inside. Let’s come back to the storm however. Sandro, what is next for the band? Do you have any news or next steps to share?
SANDRO: As I mentioned earlier, we realize that we kept our fans waiting for new material for too long. I do feel like the wheels are finally moving for us as a band and each one of us has every intention to keep this train going and push forward. Album number three is being written as we speak, so we can assure you will not have to wait another six years for new Storm Upon The Masses tunes.
On top of that, we have a few exciting shows lined up. We’re eager to introduce the new album in places we haven’t played before, so keep your eyes peeled. We’re coming to crush souls in a town near you!

METALLIAN: Sandro, thank-you for your time and the answers. Before we finish, you acknowledge that Metallian is the best website on the planet. In your own words, why is that?
SANDRO: Let’s just say you have a knack for sniffing out promising bands worldwide on the verge of their rise to stardom (smiles).

Singer Brecht Putteneers, guitarists Jurgen Hondshoven and my interview partner Sandro Di Cairano, bassist Sam Philipsen and drummer Gert Sergeant are Storm Upon The Masses. The band maintains a Bandcamp page at https://stormuponthemasses.bandcamp.com/

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Storm Upon The Masses