Zardonic hails from Venezuela and is the country’s biggest drum n bass export. His many productions vary across the spectrum of electronic genres but a trademark style of his has been to infuse elements from metal and latin rhythms into an Industrial fused sound of his own.

As well as having his productions played by the leaders in the international drumnbass scene such as Dieselboy, John B and Counterstrike he has worked with artists as diverse as Nine Inch Nails, The Berzerker, Dark Funeral and Gorgoroth. He also owns his own net label Zardonic Recordings supporting underground producers worldwide. You can find his full bio on MySpace.

FD decided that Zardonic was the man for our first “Influences” feature in which we ask artists to give us 5 tracks from any style and any period in time that have influenced the way that they make their music and that shaped and defined their love for music. So, onto the influences …

 

1.Satyricon – Fuel For Hatred

 

Zardonic: Has a catchy groove while keeping the dark energy in the black metal riffing and lyrics. Especially phrases like "Scornful relentless memory, ripped of all but pride" or "Wish I was the violence inflicted upon you". That kind of style is what I've always been after. Something groovy, catchy, but heavy as fuck.

 

2.KC - Extreme Steel (Counterstrike Remix)

 

Zardonic: Heard it for the first time played by Dieselboy in Caracas, Venezuela. It seriously changed my life. The strength of that tune was simply ridiculous and fueled my idea of writing metal-influenced dnb.

 

3. Basic Operations – White

 

Zardonic: Heard it for the first time in Dieselboy's "The Dungeonmaster's Guide", which to me is still the very best dnb mix to date. It was obviously the guitar soloing that caught my attention. Shame they're not operating anymore, hehe. Shouts to Focus and Atlantic Connection!

 

4. Ulver – Proverbs Of Hell,  Plates 7-10

 

Zardonic: This is a part of their album "Themes From William Blake's 'The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell' ", probably one of the best I've ever heard. It was their first step into avant-garde music. A blend of black metal, jazz, ambient, breakbeats, folk, it's just something else. This track in particular has a crazy glitchy amen-age, but I heard it way before I ever knew that Drum & Bass was an established dance music style.

 

5. Aphex Twin – Come To Daddy

 

Zardonic: Do I really need to say anything about this one? Oh, yes. I want your soul, I will eat your soul. And I'm fucking serious, you bunch of inferior rats !

 

Massive thanks to Zardonic for taking the time for this one, you can check out the sickness and his forthcoming releases at the links below ……

www.myspace.com/djzardonic /www.zardonicrecs.ve.tc /

                                

 

Hellraiser came to most peoples attention in 2007 with a release on Digitals legendary Timeless Recordings label. He is from Puglia in sunny South Italy. Now under the new alias “HLZ” he is back in London and has taken the time to do an exclusive interview for FD and give us a taster of his next release ! PAEBAC caught up with the badman for this one …

FD :  so, you are back in London then ..... what has brought you back man ? Is it the pizza ?

HLZ:  well i have some friends into the mafia here ,and i guess that you can get good deals in London

FD: Haha, very good, let’s get straight onto the music then ..

HLZ: yeah !

FD: Lets start with your sound, as you know I’ve followed your music but it may be new to some of our readers here. You have a very “techy” style which is very much dancefloor orientated with a lot of energy, are you still pushing this sound with your new material or have you finally chilled the f**k out ?

HLZ: Well in the past , yes, that has been true. At the moment I admit that I’m more focused on the deeper stuff, but I always love the old tech-step sounds. I don’t exclude that in the future I could be doing the techy tracks again though. For example, I'm really into the last C4C track “World Unknown” and I’m feeling like I’d like to try something like this. By the way, I’m not really focused on one type of dnb.

FD: Yeh, I’ve noticed that , your styles are varied. What happened with your tracks Lockmaster and Punchball, I ask this because I saw a lot of people rocking to these at parties …

HLZ: Well both Lock and Punchball were my first releases. Lock came out on Caution Recordings and Punchball came out on Timeless Recordings as a promo release. I’m proud of these tunes and the best advice I got from Digital was to have patience with music, he helped me a lot. Some of my recent tunes have got the same Punchball vibe, with the amen break and heavy basslines.

FD: I’ve gotta admit they are personal favourites of mine, I missed that Timeless promo too ! It is more criminal than the mafia that these have’nt got out to more people ! Do you think they will become available digitally ?

 HLZ: Well , I have never thought about this, I should talk with Caution and Timeless first, but the main point is that even if you get a release on a very legendary label like Timeless, it is just the first step.There’s no point feeling safe cos’ you got just one tune on a big label. Actually after the Timeless release it took me a bit of time to make good tunes again , even when I moved to London. Basically you always have to be trying to make good tunes and I like to try making different styles too.

FD: cool, so, what’s next for Hellraiser then , obviously you are a man with a plan ..

HLZ: Well first of all I have changed my name to HLZ , cos there are so many Hellraisers around !  Next steps are some tracks for 31 Records, some tracks for 36 Hertz, (DJ Vapour’s label), some tracks for Sonorous Music and Influenza Recs, an upcoming French label that is getting a good profile.

FD: and tell us about the audio you have given us for this feature …

HLZ: Well these are two unreleased dubs. Braindead and Spore. Braindead is a techy tune and Spore is a deep rolling track.

FD:  excellent, cheers for those ! Final question then, as you are Italian (and Italians are known for good food) can you give a recipe for our UK and Belgian readers as in  Belgium they don’t eat, just drink beer .. and in the UK everybody just relies on microwaves ..

HLZ: haha ! That’s why I am a good chef …. you’ll have to ask DJ Vapour about my food ! Haha

FD: Ok we will get onto that ! Well thankyou very much for taking the time to share the filthy tunes !

HLZ: You’re welcome ! Thanks for the interview and big up FD !!!

HLZ:Spore

HLZ:Braindead

You can check out HLZ on myspace …….  http://www.myspace.com/hlzdnb