Ophis are a Death/Doom metal band hailing from Hamburg in Germany and have recently released “Effegies of Desolation” via Cyclone Empire Records. Guitarist and vocalist Philip enlighted us about this release and other issues.

DarkRing are a Black Metal band hailing from China. Yeah, that’s correct! China! Everyone knows China is not known for any metal bands but DarkRing are hoping to put China’s name on the metal map.   This band has unleashed its debut “Reborn From The Inferno” which might not bring any surprises in terms of sound or style but they are giving their best and it will please fans of the genre. Riff-Mag discussed a few questions with the band. Read the interview. What can you tell us about the band DarkRing? How did you begin and why? DarkRing is a band from Guangzhou China. Our music style is symphonic Black Metal. The five members of our group came from another band called “Evil Mare”. Then we joined the bass “Ming” on the establishment of DarkRing. Why have you chosen the name DarkRing? First of all, we love black metal. So the band’s name has this as basis. Ring represents a firm commitment. DarkRing represented our black metal vows. It isn’t possible to find too much information on you online. Why don’t you promote yourselves in the social networks? For the outside world, we are a new band. Now we’ve tried through various channels to do publicity to let the outside world know more about us and our music. We believe that a band must work in many aspects to promote their music, to finally have the potential to become a great band. What attracted you to Black Metal? In 2005 our guitarist bought a “Dimmu Borgir” CD and everything began. After all our understanding of black metal is different from other music. Its message is more of self-belief rather than religious, at the same time its dark side of cultural expressions is our favorite. This concept and our band are consistent, so we chose black metal. Which bands have influenced you and your sound? We love Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Cradle Of Filth and so on. They are great. But for our sound, I prefer to say our sound is the sound of DarkRing. Why is the title of the album “Reborn from the Inferno”? What inspired you to it? “Reborn from the Inferno” stands for the transition from a band (Evil Mare) in history to another band (DarkRing). It is a painful thing to dissolve a band and it is a great thing to set up a new band. You can feel this mood from the cover picture of the CD. What are the topics you write about and why? “Reborn from the Inferno” is a description of characters that have been in a fight for their honour, then decline, in the renewed strength again after they battle for their future. Each capital into our soul, on behalf of our experience. DarkRing’s debut full-length “Reborn from the Inferno” features a cover designed by the band and completed by legendary Finnish metal artist Juha Vuorma (Whiplash, Autopsy, Edge of Sanity, Kalmah, etc). However it is not unique cause we have thousands of similar covers… is it an attempt to go back to Black metal’s roots? First of all, we are very grateful to Mr. Juha to have drawn such a great picture for our CD. In the beginning we sent our songs to Mr. Juha and told him what we thought and wanted. Then he came up with this great picture. The more we think about it, the more we find the cover to be the expression of DarkRing’s black metal. We admire the great artist and would love to work with him again. Why haven’t you incorporated any Chinese elements in your sound to make it more genuine and original? It’s a good question. We believe that music is the world, we don’t believe music should be divided into western music and Chinese music. Black metal is originated from the western music culture, but the Chinese also can...