Music In This Episode:

Cannibal Corpse: "Ritual Annihilation"

taken from the album Violence Unimagined

Drawn and Quartered: "Proliferation Of Disease"

taken from the album Congregation Pestilence

Ruin: "At One With the Earth and Worms"

taken from the album Spread Plague Death

FOSSILIZATION: "Blight Cathedral"

taken from the album HE WHOSE NAME WAS LONG FORGOTTEN

Churchburn: "Scarred"

taken from the album Genocidal Rite

Sunless: "Ascended Forms"

taken from the album Ylem

Cynic: "In a Multiverse Where Atoms Sing"

taken from the album Ascension Codes

ALDA: "Stonebreaker"

taken from the album Distant Fire

Godspeed You! Black Emperor: "Fire at Static Valley"

taken from the album G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!

ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL: "Metal"

taken from the album ÂGE ⱡ TOTAL

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 208 features an interview with Adam Korchok of Ischemic.

Regular listeners of the podcast may have heard me mention Toronto's Ischemic during my interview with Mors Verum's Mrudul Kamble - Kamble is also the drummer for Ischemic; and despite one project being classified as "death metal" and the other as "doom", the two share a certain atmospheric sensibility.

I spoke with Ischemic guitarist Adam Korchok about why the band owes its existence to a Kijiji ad, and how the band evolved towards its current sound. We also discussed how they were able to record their latest self-titled album "in house", and find the middle ground between the band's visceral and melodic influences.

My thanks to Adam for speaking with me, and to all of you for listening.

Music In This Episode:

"Witchcraft"

"Filth"

taken from the album Stagnation & Woe

"Scabs"

"Crawl out of Hell"

taken from the album Ischemic

Thanks for listening! Interviews, reviews, and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 207 features an interview with Erol Ulug of Teeth.

Dreams of Consciousness has been on the Teeth hype train since their Unremittance debut and their subsequent split EP with Fister. The California band represent the evolution of "dissonant death metal", taking the influence of Gorguts and Immolation, while giving it their own unorthodox, convention-defying spin.

I spoke with Teeth guitarist/vocalist Erol Ulug about the "Nuns With Guns" tattoo that led to his long collaboration with his bandmate, Justin Moore, and how their previous band Wageslave shaped Teeth's musical direction. We also discussed his jazz background, and the challenges he faced as both a band member and studio engineer/producer during the creation of the band's latest EP, Finite.

My thanks to Erol for speaking with me, and to all of you for listening.

Music In This Episode:

"Husk"

"Dread"

taken from the album The Curse of Entropy

"Concubine"

"Dreamless Hieroglyphs"

taken from the Finite EP

"Leech Eater"

taken from the album Unremittance

Thanks for listening! Interviews, reviews, and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 206 features an interview with Maciek Nieścioruk of Dormant Ordeal.

If you're looking for an example of how Polish death metal continues to evolve, I submit Krakow's Dormant Ordeal. The long-running trio don't scrimp on the speed or blastbeats that their scene is known for, but include plenty of discordance and eerie riffing that plants their sound in the new millenium.

I spoke with Dormant Ordeal guitarist/bassist/lyricist Maciek Nieścioruk about how the band went from drummer Radek's bedroom project to a full band, and how classical music informs his musical arrangements. We also talked about the writing and recording of Dormant Ordeal's latest album, The Grand Scheme Of Things, and the stories behind some of their enigmatic song titles.

My thanks to Maciek for speaking with me, and to all of you for listening.

Music In This Episode:

"Stoning"

taken from the album We Had It Coming

"Your Mother-Slave"

taken from the album It Rains, It Pours

"Poetry Doesn't Work on Whores"

"The Borders of Our Language Are Not The Borders of Our World"

taken from the album The Grand Scheme Of Things

Thanks for listening! Interviews, reviews, and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 205 features an interview with Malik Camlica of Hyperdontia.

With some notable and extremely prolific contributors to Europe's death metal underground (including members of Diabolizer, Sulpherous, Taphos, and Decaying Purity), Hyperdontia could almost be counted as a supergroup. The Copenhagen-based quartet's thrashy, riff-driven style finds a balance between the classic death metal styles of both Northern Europe and the United States.

I spoke with Hyperdontia bassist Malik Camlica (also in Diabolizer) about Hyperdontia's writing process, and how the band members met each other. We also discussed how the band members wrote and recorded their parts individually for their most recent album, Hideous Entity.

My thanks to Malik for speaking with me, and to all of you for listening.

Music In This Episode:

"Teeth and Nails"

taken from the album Nexus Of Teeth

"Punctured Soul"

taken from the Mortiferum/Hyperdontia split EP

"Grinding Teeth"

"Trapped in the Void"

taken from the album Hideous Entity

Thanks for listening! Interviews, reviews, and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 204 features an interview with Ray McCaffrey and Dave Suzuki of Churchburn.

On the surface, Churchburn is the unlikeliest of collaborations: Born from a long friendship between sludge/doom drummer Ray McCaffrey and Vital Remains guitarist Dave Suzuki, the project eschews the speed and technicality that Suzuki was previous known for, preferring instead to punish the listener with slow, crushing, oppressive metal in the vein of Winter or early My Dying Bride.

I spoke Churchburn founders Ray McCaffrey and Dave Suzuki about how they met, and when they consider a Churchburn song "finished". We also discussed why they chose to record their latest album, Genocidal Rite, with newcomer James Gazerro, and whether Churchburn still lives in the shadow of their previous projects.

My thanks to Ray and Dave for speaking with me, and to all of you for listening.

Music In This Episode:

"Relieved By Burning Lead"

"Authorized To Cleanse"

taken from the album None Shall Live... The Hymns Of Misery

"Sin of Angels"

"Genocidal Rite"

taken from the album Genocidal Rite

Thanks for listening! Interviews, reviews, and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 203 features an interview with Sunless.

It's been a productive four years for Sunless since the last time they were on this blog. The Minnesota trio have just released their second album - part two of a trilogy, and their first for Willowtip Records.

I spoke with the band (bassist Mitch Schooler, guitarist/vocalist Lucas Scott, and drummer Taylor Hamel) about how their writing process has changed since they released their debut album, Urraca, how drummer Taylor Hamel joined the band, and what makes their sophomore album Ylem different from its predecessor. We also discussed the lyrical and conceptual contributions of former guitarist Andrew Notsch to Ylem, and what Sunless has in store for album number three.

My thanks to the members of Sunless for speaking with me, and to all of you for listening.

Music In This Episode:

"Gathering at the Skull’s Eye"

"The Ancient Ones"

taken from the album Urraca

"Atramentous"

"Ascended Forms"

"Perpetual Contortion"

taken from the album Ylem

Thanks for listening! Interviews, reviews, and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 202 features an interview with Mrudul Kamble of Mors Verum.

Where would Dreams of Consciousness be without Canadian metal? Mors Verum possess all the technical skills that Canadian death metal is known for, but package that technique in dissonance and psychedelia.

I spoke with multi-instrumentalist Mrudul Kamble about what led him to form Mors Verum with vocalist Lyndon Quadros, and how the band went from playing with a drum machine to having Aepoch's Greg Carvalho become a full-time member. We also discussed the growing psychedelic rock influence that shaped their latest EP, The Living, and how their newer songs emerge more from "flow" than riffs.

My thanks to Kamble for speaking with me, and to all of you for listening.

Music In This Episode:

"Paralyzed Intuitions"

"Impaled by Shadows"

taken from the album Deranged

"Death's"

"The Living"

taken from the album The Living

Thanks for listening! Interviews, reviews, and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 201 features an interview with Anders Ugmod Bakke of She Said Destroy.

We're seeing the tail end of an era in metal when most new bands were virtually indistinguishable from tribute acts; Norway's She Said Destroy may signal that originality is about to come back into style. The quartet's fearless mash-ups of seemingly incongruous forms of heavy music are a welcome relief after a decades-long onslaught of Entombed and Hellhammer clones.

I spoke with founder/vocalist Anders Ugmod Bakke about She Said Destroy's eclectic approach, and his experiences with the infamous second wave of black metal. We also discussed the circumstances that led the band to reconvene after their long hiatus, and how their writing process changed for their latest album, Succession.

My thanks to Anders for speaking with me, and to all of you for listening.

Music In This Episode:

"This City Speaks In Tongues"

taken from the album This City Speaks In Tongues

"Swallow My Tongue"

taken from the album Time Like Vines

"Not Only Bridges"

"Succession"

taken from the album Succession

Thanks for listening! Interviews, reviews, and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 200 features an interview with Michael Korchonnoff of Alda.

Alda has made appearances on Dreams of Consciousness for years. The Tahoma band's folky, atmospheric style of black metal has been regularly featured in my Bandcamp Picks, as well as a 2015 Q+A. When it was announced that their long-gestating fourth album was finally coming out, the time was nigh to have them on the podcast.

I spoke with Alda drummer/vocalist Michael Korchonnoff about how the band was formed by four high school metal friends, and the way their music and songwriting has evolved since then. We also talked about how forest fires in the Pacific Northwest shaped their latest album, A Distant Fire.

My thanks to Michael for speaking with me, and to all of you for listening.

Music In This Episode:

"The Evergreen"

taken from the album Alda

"Adrift"

taken from the album Tahoma

"Stonebreaker"

"A Distant Fire"

taken from the album A Distant Fire

Thanks for listening! Interviews, reviews, and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com