…i – label owner) the demos for Cerebral Purgatory and he was keen immediately. We already really liked Transcending as a label, so when he was on board, so were we. Kunal has been amazing to work with. He’s made everything as easy as possible, we know he believes in what we do, and we fully trust him with his end of it, so together it works seamlessly. Dead Rhetoric: Your music is a raging ball of fury, yet contains a technical aspect that helps p…
…eat choirs, those are the main features I love about this music. Also, the lyrics are really important for me. I know some people don’t care, but for me they are special and I think power metal has some of the best. The lyrics might be a bit too cheesy on the fantasy side, but I like it anyway [laughs]. I’m a fantasy girl! When you listen to pop music, there’s a lot of talk about love and stuff like that, but I’m not interested in those stories. I…
…ightly faster variety, these musicians also excel at when to place the timely, emotionally/theatrically-driven power ballad. That’s where “Send Me a Light” comes in, the additional howls as well as piano/orchestration setting the stage for Jörg’s softer melody approach in the verses building up the choir-fueled chorus to a tremendous payoff. The marching power riffs create instant connectivity to the quality audience intended – most will be hard p…
…ypnosis, equating to a long form black metal trance that grabbed hold tightly. A doubtlessly fitting conclusion to an effort that lived up to the hype, yet wisely leaving a craving for more. Devil Master More Devil Master images this way Devil Master sure has a somewhat cheesy, theatrical punk approach to their black metal. In this lies their charm and appeal, with many in the crowd eager for the Philly natives to arrive. Swathed in red lighting a…
…arts. The two interludes “The Covenant” and “Up In the Castle” serve not only as aural breathers but chilling atmosphere dynamics to set up the next proper song that gallops into your soul. Pulling from a mix of older classic influences with a bit more of that evil blackened touch when needed, Attic has plenty in the tank to keep you motivated album by album. Return of the Witchfinder doubles down on all their influences, in turn serving up a deli…
…o rhythm claps appear in the softer ballad “Those Eyes”, where Terence really grabs the key verse / chorus moments to showcase his versatility as an emotionally captivating vocalist. On other occasions the musicians of Holler get a chance to showcase a bit of their musical interplay abilities, adding some funk/jazz sections a la Toto in the 80s to make “Falling Apart” very engaging, beyond its memorable melodies or soothing background vocals. What…
…auricio Toledo even more firmly in place, it appears that the group willingly expands their influences into a bit more blackened tremolo-induced direction through specific riffs/runs or energized blast beat sections – yet resolute in that speedy thrash foundation that got them acclaim in the first place. These musicians understand the delicate balance between the creation of melodic hooks, runs, or riff sequences that are quite catchy / memorable,…
…w delivery from vocalist Kai Hagemann. He has a tendency to inject a slightly whiny or warble nature in specific verse components, almost sounding a bit more epic/folk-ish versus your Halford, Dickinson, or Dio-styled powerhouse singer. Additional chimes make the ending of “This Is the Way” charming, settling the stage for the next double kick / power barrage within “Evil Dead” – a personal favorite featuring some killer Mercyful Fate-like riffs a…
…hallenge to try to write in between tours, stuff like that. Dead Rhetoric: Lyrically you often tackle psychological horror fiction-related themes – especially the work of Stephen King. What fuels the word outlook to match up so well to the furious music on display – have you always believed that heavy music and shock/horror-style themes go hand in hand? Moate: Yes, I think that’s always been a classic thing. But I also think of our lyrics as like…
…the rapid-fire chorus plus grunts/growls an ideal match for the relentless proceedings. Sons of Alaheim allows Miehala to establish themselves as another newcomer worthy of investigation if you enjoy an old school form of thrash given a bit of life in some death, doom and groove textures. Hopefully the second full-length hits the streets in 2025, as it could be a barnburner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHcQLbZTAO8 https://www.youtube.com/watch…
…more for the Grim Reaper Fest with Weedeater. Following that, we are actively booking a tour for July on the southeast – North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, back up the coast to Virginia, Pennsylvania, things of that nature. We don’t have anything on the books, and we want to be on the West Coast for September/October. That’s about it for right now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deQwH7NN03A https://www.youtube.com/watch?…
…g because there’s so many different things going on. That’s what I personally really like about the scene. Dead Rhetoric: If you were to teach a class on something that wasn’t music, what would you teach? Wolf: Drawing maybe? I do a bit of drawing, but I would like to dive into that more. Erni: I think something like meditating would be good for me, and the whole world. I’m sure about it [laughs]. Dead Rhetoric: What are your plans for 2024? You h…
…ve just as much, if not more at times. Bands like Anathema and the criminally underrated ShamRain (seriously, listen to them and try not to be moved) are a constant, especially when the often unpredictable monster known as depression rears its suffocating shadow. My wonderful wife and – somewhat ironically – sad, downtrodden music are my most important things to lean on when that crushing feeling in my chest is ever present. Another act who ticks…
…iece for Aborted to pull off with their veteran status. The band know exactly how to mold and meld their groove-friendly death metal into caustic levels of aggression while still keeping it relatively memorable. Nothing has changed here, and some of the guests bring an added bit of depth or variety to the fold. “Death Cult” is probably the biggest stand out with its staggering grooves and wall of sound approach to aggression, with Sven trading voc…
…y 2022, it was depressing. That was a negative thing, I was feeling it. Early 2022 when things slowly started opening up, we jumped at every opportunity. And it snowballed from there. Everybody in the band felt similar feelings, we had to get out of the house. Dead Rhetoric: What has Gus G. learned about himself as a person and a player in your early 40s that may have grown or differed from who you were as a person going through your 20s and 30s?…
…his vocals to give his delivery a bit more Celtic Frost-like punch especially on the grunts for early highlight “Revel In Dissidence”. Quality doom possesses that slow into painfully dreary variation song to song – which is what you’ll get here, feeling every guitar note bend, plodding bass line, or heavy-handed snare hit. The weak will stray away from Saturnalia Temple – the faithful already welcome to the reflective despair present on Paradigm C…
…o around. The combination of emotionally driven hooks on all fronts musically plus vocally allows the listener to dive deep into the heavy-handed, hypnotic chord progressions that lead to bigger payoffs through the choruses. Check out “Dig Deep” in that regard, the stunted riffing of Lex Vlad cascading next to an addictive vocal refrain, shifting into some tranquil passages before the next heavy charge barrels down from the sky. The contrasts cont…
…k-like musical progressions, the guitar work of Elias Viljanen taking on a bit of Viking/Thin Lizzy-esque textures especially when he garners the spotlight hook-wise. The quintet also excel in reflective ballad pieces – “The Best Things” probably one of their best in quite some time, Henrik Klingenberg setting the stage through his piano, keyboard, and orchestration angles along with Tony to give this arrangement an alluring power rock meets class…
…ok at what Lutharo achieves song by song? Shipperbottom: For sure. Especially, its really great to have someone recording you that knows exactly what you want. Knows exactly how the sound is going to be, knows exactly what you are trying to say. Having someone behind the boards like that that knows exactly what to do, and what they want to make out of this, is a huge thing. Also, once again, having them there when I was recording and having (guita…
…ar, or more – but at this point in time, it’s an energetic effort full of varied anthems plus memorable songs, living up to its namesake Invincible Shield. Who would have ever expected bands like Accept, Saxon, or Judas Priest to be still vital and as creatively fruitful as they are in the 2020’s – let’s enjoy these recordings, as if it’s the final studio full-length, they will have finished out brilliantly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLPaGqG…
…d strong in Invincible Shield. Hopefully we try to push somewhere differently sonically, or whatever way we can to make the album sound like it’s own animal with its own two legs. The writing and recording, we were able to get together and lay the groundwork for these songs before the lockdown hit. I, Glenn, and Rob, we hashed out these song ideas in demo basic form. Then the lockdowns hit so we couldn’t get together to record it, but it allowed u…
…/bass infusion between the musicians where you can tell they love those early Maiden efforts equally. Spitting out tales of blasphemy, anti-religious themes through titles like “Bestial Rites” and “Necromantic Lust”, bassist T. Nachtghul uses his nasty, raspy screams plus gruff mid-range to convey sinister words, reverb/echo effects only enhancing that edge tenfold. The versatility engages listeners to commit track by track. A love of Motörhead ap…
…ould like to make it so that bands could afford to go on tour. That is really, really hard right now. $200 a night on hotels, $100 a night with gas and food. You have to be rich to go on tour, or you have to be prepared to take a massive hit. It’s not cool. Dead Rhetoric: Do you think that’s where a major difference occurs in festival support in Europe or other parts of the world versus the USA? Coming down to the sponsorships that offset the cost…
…groove rhythm component, allowing David to sail in his mid-range to slightly higher range capacity comfortably. It’s evident these musicians possess great knowledge of many subgenres across hard rock and metal – venturing into even Latin / cultural angles during “Payback’s A Bitch” or flamenco acoustic guitar prowess for the final bars of “My Heart Burns”. Bluesy-based riffage in stunted juxtaposition weaves around the seductive phrasing and note…
Although the releases have been spread out a bit compared to the early / mid 2000’s, one can always rest assured that there is a supreme benchmark aspect to the melodic heavy / power metal present from Firewind. With vocalist Herbie Langhans firmly ensconced in the lineup, Stand United as the tenth studio record keeps the four-piece alignment to great songwriting with stellar melodies as well as a bevy of musicianship-oriented tricks front and ce…
…s a lot of snow and such. It was easy. The recording thing went very smoothly. The only thing I would never, ever do again is mix the album during the summertime. In Finland, our summer is so short, it’s basically two months. Spending that time mostly indoors, working on an album and having your mind inside that whole time, it’s not super relaxing. We didn’t have too many festival shows last summer set up, we played six shows which is absolutely n…
…ased in 2015 on AOR Heaven, the band felt a remix could give these songs a bit of a ‘facelift’ to touch up some of the production flaws that may not have stood up well this many years later. Those of you who love solid performances in a Scandinavian context where the songwriting shines will delight in these eleven tracks – as aspects from old Europe and Rainbow to a more streamlined Masterplan come to mind when you take in the material. The versat…
…hat people can expect when they hear your music? Codfert: I have to talk a bit about the lyrics. Everything came from the lyrics. Zaher the singer, told me on this album he wanted to talk about what we have been facing for twenty years now: discrimination, racism, speak about war, speak about climate change. The cover art is not for a concept album, we are digging into many different topics. When it’s a matter to choosing the cover for this, you h…
…es, the war in the Ukraine affected a lot, the production of vinyl especially. You usually have to deliver the master three or four months before the release – due to the war in the Ukraine, we had to wait for almost a year. We were not being lazy; we were just waiting in line until it was our turn for the factories to produce the album. We are super excited about the whole thing and the final result. We are looking forward to going back into the…
…ith Peaceville Records for the fifth album Wounds Deeper Than Time. Currently only vocalist/ guitarist Dave Gregor remains from the original days – but he has a great group of younger musicians rounding out the quartet to fire up the creative embers through this latest opus Creation Undone. The savage nature to the riffs combined with a natural energetic presence in when to shift the tempos or push into upper gear ensures numerous highlight moment…