Noord-Brabant hardcore scene - As Enemies Aries

OK, so I realised I hadn't done a feature on a band from this area for a while and there are still loads of awesome bands that I want to bring to you. So, what better way to start my next run of features than with these guys - As Enemies Arise.

 

As Enemies Arise formed in early 2008 and by the autumn of 2009 they had released their first EP - Show me that smile. The EP was good enough to land AEA some high profile support slots in Europe with the likes of Cancer Bats, Architects and Avenged Sevenfold!.

AEA are made up of Gideon - Vocals, Johan - Guitars, Jelle - Bass, Dirk - Drums and Maarten - Guitar.

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to catch up with bassist Jelle and he was cool enough to answer some questions for me:-

For those people who are unfamiliar with As Enemies Arise, can you tell people a bit about the band and how you formed?

We are a metalcore band based in The Netherlands. The band formed early 2008 and had several line-up changes. We're playing the current line-up since July 2010 and feel very happy about the members currently involved.

What or who are your influences?

I guess our influences are very diverse. We all listen to a lot of different music, from dub step to pop-rock and from metalcore to hip-hop. I think for our music we resemble bands like The Ghost Inside, For The Fallen Dreams, Misery Signals...the more modern hardcore, but we try and get as many influences as possible in our music and don't want to be labelled as just another metalcore band.

What are your plans for 2011?

Playing shows and touring! Playing shows is what we love doing the most and we want to continue playing a lot and hopefully some more! We have several tours lined up, going through different European countries. We're also writing for a new EP which will hopefully be released somewhere in the fall, so we're having a very busy year!

You seem super busy with gigs so far. Do you find it easy doing shows in mainland Europe?

It's not really easy, it needs a lot of hard work and i think a lot of luck. When we just started out we had the luck of meeting some awesome people who helped us out and we're always on the look-out to play anywhere at anytime. When you play as much shows as possible people will hear your name more often, check you out and hopefully ask you for shows. Right now we get asked for more and more shows which is awesome because we can focus on getting the tours together better.

Is there a feeling of community in the scene in the Netherlands and how do people react to your shows?

The Netherlands is awesome! There are so many young kids getting into this music and this scene which we think is awesome. We love playing The Netherlands because the response is awesome. Since our CD came out people are singing along and that is just awesome to see!

You've supported some big bands in you home country. What has been your highlight so far?

Supporting Avenged Sevenfold in Amsterdam, in front of a sold out venue. No doubt about it. We were almost pissing our pants when we saw the crowd of 1500 people, since before that the biggest crowd was maybe 300 kids. But it was just awesome playing on such a big show!

What has the attention been like from the media in the Netherlands?

It's been good! The Dutch media is supporting the Dutch scene which is really cool. We've had awesome reviews here and the response of the people was cool as well.

Have you had much attention from outside of the Netherlands?

Media wise not so much, but people in Belgium and Germany seem to really get into our new record as well. Crowd responses are getting crazier every show we play and we can't believe it if people 500 kilometres from our hometown sing along with our songs, it's just really weird for us but we love it. I guess we just never expected that people actually liked us and get into us and appreciate what we do.

What do you think of the metal/hardcore scene in general at the moment?

There are so many new bands which are totally awesome. Bands look beyond their genre boundaries which is a good thing, and bands come to Europe a lot quicker. Some people complain about younger kids getting into it and everything getting way to big but they should stop complaining and be happy that more people get into hardcore and that whole mindset. The world would be a better place if there's more people getting into hardcore, getting their own opinion about the world and think more about all the shit that is going on.

Can you give any tips about bands to check out in your local scene?

We have some awesome bands on mainland Europe at the moment. Everyone should def check out Wasted Bullet - they released a new single and this band is going to be massive. Our friends in Showyourteeth will release a new record soon which will blow up as well, they are such a good live band as well.

 

The band have recently recorded their debut album - Chapters, which will be released by CFC records later this year. The band will also be embarking on a number of shows across Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in support of the album. 

As Enemies Arise album - Chapters, is an awesome addition to the current crop of great European metalcore albums. Metalcore is a bit of lazy label to give to As Enemies Arise, as they are so much more than that.

The album's full of different elements that marks the album and band out as something a bit different. Melodic guitar, crushing breakdowns relentless hardcore style vocals and some really cool extra touches to add a bit more to the album. There are some techy moments, but these aren't overused, and the Chapters hold the listener all the way through, as it twists and turn through various sounds and ideas. The solo in second track Embrace Tomorrow is brilliant and the use of gang vocals, invokes the hardcore influences that are very prevalent in European metalcore bands.

This is AEA's debut album, which is incredible because the musicianship is definitely beyond that of a band just starting out. It probably has a lot to do the bands live outings.

It's got a very punky vibe to it, which is refreshing as it's not just straight through brutality and it AEA manage to hold their own amongst their peers, which makes them a very promising prospect and makes Chapters a great intro to the band. 

If you want to check out AEA and find out about their live dates, go to their Facebook page and Like them at - http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/asenemiesarise?sk=app_178091127385.

The guys are offering two free tracks from Chapters at - http://www.asenemiesarise.net/. Head there and show them your support.

Also, the band's label CrossFireCult can be reached here - http://www.crossfirecult.com/index.php and on Facebook at - http://www.facebook.com/pages/CrossFireCult-records/144127768959870?ref=ts&sk=wall.

Get on it!