BAND OF THE WEEK: Cyanide Winds
'Satanic Overlords Of Chaos' sounds just like you imagine it does, only better.
Some things are really simple, or at least they should be. When it comes to metal, for example, no matter how much our tastes might have evolved, how much we might have gotten into complex and sophisticated kinds of music, I’d say very few of us initially became metalheads essentially because we felt some kind of primal call to this music. The drive, the aggression, the spontaneity, the energy, the fuck-it-all looseness of it all, that’s what grabbed most us in the first place.
It was Venom, or Entombed, or Motörhead, or Bathory, or one of those. When people - admittedly, “people” here usually means older guys with a bad tendency for gatekeeping and no will to look for new things, I know - complain when they say those days are gone, what they really mean is that most of the bands that are still supposed to represent that side of metal are either the surviving oldies who are long past their prime, flogging a horse that’s been long dead (not all of them, mind you, but you know what I mean), or younger acts who become little more than fabricated copies trying to emulate things instead of just letting it rip from the heart.
Every once in a while, however, someone comes along who gets it. Someone who knows that “old school” metal is all about passion and feeling and spontaneity, not a scientific search for a specific drum sound or some overblown antics for algorithms to pick up on. Enter Cyanide Winds! Centred around the well-known figure of Nathan Jochum, frontman for the excellent Ancient VVisdom, they just appeared as if conjured out from the void already fully formed, because it didn’t take too long a thought process to form them. On their debut EP that came out a few days ago, ‘Satanic Overlords Of Chaos’, and as Nathan fully confirms on the great chat we had about it that you can read below, spontaneity was king and queen of proceedings. These five songs are face-ripping, rocking, thrashing black metal, no holds barred, just like the stuff that excited you about metal in the first place, even if it’s not really trying to ape any specific band. It’s rough, it’s fast, it looks and feels evil, you’ll spend most of your listening time throwing horns, headbanging and air-guitaring, and at the same time you won’t feel like someone is trying to take you on a fake retro trip just to tingle your nostalgia chords. Hell yeah.
‘Satanic Overlords Of Chaos’ is out now via Cyanide Winds’ Bandcamp.
“No frills, no lengthy intros or guitar interludes, no wanking off, just rock’n’roll. It's not perfect, nothing is. I don't want perfect, fuck perfect!”
- Nathan Jochum
Let’s start by the beginning as usual, where does Cyanide Winds come from?
Nathan Jochum: I started writing these songs about a year ago and asked a couple friends who I've worked with before musicially what they thought of this concept. They were very into the idea and we started practicing right away. I knew it was a good time to move on to a new music project. I've been really excited to show this band to the rest of the world, but like all things had to wait until the time was right. It's been a process and I'm grateful now that I took my time with it and that the musicians involved are the right people to highlight the best in the songs. A lot of the riffs are simple, but the way they put their creativity into layering bass and drums, and my guitar playing style, makes for a unique, heavy and violent end product.
Yeah, I love how unashamedly extreme the EP is. The title, artwork, everything – and also how old school it sounds too.
Nathan: Thanks! Definitely taking a more old school approach to writing. No frills, no lengthy intros or guitar interludes, no wanking off, just rock’n’roll. So many bands bore me with that shit. I want to make music that I would enjoy listening to. That reminds me of the way music used to be. I don't need great production or fancy guitar solos, I took a more punk approach with the attitude of this project and I'm happy with the results. It's not perfect, nothing is. I don't want perfect, fuck perfect! I want to have a good time and write rock’n’roll songs with my friends. I like the simplicity, I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. The "hey look at me" attitude is fucking tired. Yeah, you can wank off solo all over the place but your song still sucks! I like to write memorable simple rock’n’roll songs that you can sing along to and have a good time at our shows! The artwork was created by Arketipe and I love it. I was looking at his Instagram and the cover really called out to me. I think it suits the music just perfectly. He also created the logo which to me has that classic old school vibe to it as well. I think I referenced Dissection, Venom, and one other band when he asked what I wanted it to look like. Turned out excellent, I couldn't be happier with it. Unabashedly Satanic! You know that's how I like it! My biggest influences for Cyanide Winds are Motörhead, Venom, early Bathory, which to me are the best you can get. I wanted to create a similar style that makes people feel that same raw energy that bands like Celtic Frost have with our new spin on it!
The songs do feel very loose and spontaneous. Was the writing really as cool and as natural as it seems to have been by listening to them?
Nathan: Exactly, yes! That's all part of the sound, part of the charm. I'd say almost all of the songs I wrote on the spot, even the lyrics. We would get a structure, a skeleton of a song and I would belt out a few lines. Sometimes I would even stop the song and go "fuck I just said a cool line, hang on let me write that down"! Then we would go right back to it. I think that a huge part of this style is being spontaneous, using that sort of chaos magick, to catch something that has meaning and raw power. It is not over-thought. If anything, I didn't think very hard about these songs at all, but that's what I like. It all happened very spontaneously and naturally. No need to sit there and dwell. Sure, I changed a few lines once we got ready to go to the studio but there weren't many revisions at all. What we have is what we have and that is what we want. I think what we captured has caught that energy and that's where I want this to remain. We recorded at a friend’s studio here in Austin, Val Rozar, who did an excellent job of getting great initial tones and drum sounds. Then our bass player took the sounds and worked his magick with his mixing skills. In the end it all turned out as we wanted: raw, powerful, no frills rock’n’roll. It's what the world needs right now!
You mentioned how spontaneous the lyrics also were, but they do sound great. It’s easy to fall into cliché with this kind of stuff, it’s hard to sound fresh.
Nathan: Most of the time I write the first thing that comes to mind. I revise, of course, but as I was saying before sometimes I'll just belt something out and that'll be what the song ends up being. Other times I'll have a title of a song that I like in my notes, when it's time to practice I may have a line or two ready to go, then the rest will come to me when we start playing the song. It's different every time though. You can't expect to write the same way every time so it's good to keep and open mind about things. Don't force anything either. If you're forcing something then just stop because it's probably not going to fucking work anyway and you're wasting your time. It's important to know what you want too, before you go into a writing process. If you have no idea what you want to say or project to the world you probably have no business being a singer of a band anyway. I know what I want to say. I know what I want my legacy to be. You've known me for a while now, has it ever changed?! haha [it really hasn’t, dude. :) - José] Yeah, and it's not going to. I know who I am and I think for me it's not easy but it's something that I've curated over the years, It's something I've planted and grown and will continue to grow. In the world of Satanic music, literature, film etc there are infinite possibilities if you are able to tap into your mind and let those visions see the light. You have to share with the world your vision as an artist. If you don't then you'll never reach the true will and potential that you truly have within yourself.
Do you think any of the songs is a particular highlight, that you might use to represent what you’d like from the band?
Nathan: It’s hard to say because I also don't want to be tied down to just one sound. We're straight up going to have material that sounds different than this album. It's going to happen. I don't want to remain stagnant and try to recreate the same style for the next release or for albums to come. I like them all! I would listen to this band if I wasn't in it! For me, a favourite is ‘Beast Of Desolation’, just a fun, ripper of a song to play, fun, evil as fuck lyrics to sing. It's always going to be evolving. Moving forward is the goal. Not saying we're going to evolve into a nu-metal band or something lame, but we are going to be creative, expand in our songwriting and grow. There's a certain balance you have to have, between evolution and remaining true to yourself.
The last Ancient VVisdom album had a couple of more extreme moments, even with your voice and all, is this band also a sort of getting this sort of aggression out of your system in a more extreme context?
Nathan: I mean, sure, there's a level of letting out aggression to some extent, but I'm not a very aggressive person per se. I just like writing and playing heavy shit. That being said, playing heavy music is a very positive way to let out some negative energy. Same with listening to it. If you're having a bad day it's nice to sing along to a heavy, pissed off, evil song that helps you let out some of the frustrations life throws your way. If we can help someone with that, cool! I don't do yoga. I don't do boxing, or whatever the fuck, I play music. I pick up my guitar and blast out a riff. Most of the time going back to the spontaneity of it, first idea, best idea. Pick up the guitar, riff around, turn it up louder when you're with your friends and they add their parts. That's how I like to take out that dark side of myself. Everyone has one, even the people who pretend they don't. Sometimes they are the worst! They build up all their aggression in their heart and in their head then they explode. I think it's best to deal with this aggression in a positive way! This aggression will not stand!
What are you overall plans with this band, are you looking to play live? And might
we have a proper full-length album in the near future?
Nathan: Yeah, we are playing our first show Wednesday March 12th, 2025 at the brand new Crow Bar in Austin, Texas. Crow Bar is owned and operated by my friends Steve Gee and Aryn Black of the band Scorpion Child. I worked at the original one for a few years then some asshole burnt it down, it was arson. The guy who did it was caught but the building was fucked, but now they have a new location! We will be performing our first Cyanide Winds show there with Brüka. Val Rozer who recorded ‘Satanic Overlords Of Chaos’ plays guitar in Brüka, they are a ripping black metal band from here in Austin. So I’m very excited about that, our first show, at the brand new Crow Bar with friends’ bands, it’s going to be a good time! We are also in the process of recording our second EP, keeping the same raw sound, energy and power as before, with a cover of a song - ‘Black Widow’, that Nunslaughter covered, by Monstrosity. So look out for that, it's gonna be a banger!
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