…merfall find favorable. We reached out to drummer Henrik Petersson through Skype recently to learn more about the evolution of the band’s sound, signing with SPV/Steamhammer and how that has improved their profile, thoughts on the heavy metal scene in general and establishing newer bands with their own take/style, artwork/video thoughts, plus future plans including more North American tour dates. Dead Rhetoric: What are some of your earliest memor…
…t and we were arranging and writing songs there. Nowadays, we do this 100% online. I send him the idea, and he builds up an arrangement and then we finish everything. This is new, that’s the only big difference. Dead Rhetoric: Do you believe those early rehearsals helps for the comfort of now recording separately? Neuhauser: There are always pros and cons. The pros of rehearsals, you have this spontaneous possibility to feel something together. Yo…
…ps that don’t know how to communicate better. At least that’s how it seems online. If you go to the rural part of Finland, then you realize you have more in common with other people even if they like a different political party. I don’t know if it’s ever going to be solved. Hentunen: Even though social media plays such a huge role these days, it’s not the whole reality. Go outside and speak with real people, you will notice that we are more alike…
…formation from vocalist/bassist Tom Angelripper. We reached out to Tom via Skype to get all the details behind the record, including song choices, the assembly of the materials for the box set, hopes to record a live album with some never performed Sodom material included in these new set lists, thoughts on the Ukraine/Russia war, the struggle for younger bands to make an imprint on a flooded metal scene, plus future plans over the next year or tw…
…y fond of this style. I think it turned out really cool. We found this guy online; he had a cool portfolio. We were really happy we were able to come to good terms to have him work with us. Dead Rhetoric: The video for the title track has received over a quarter of a million views now on YouTube. How did you feel the video shoot went, as the darker lighting sequences around the band performances definitely give the visuals an atmospheric vibe? Hol…
…general, almost visceral reaction to these songs, and reading the comments online was pretty special. Gruesome is also the kind of band that a lot of people have come up and said, thank you for keeping this sound alive. Gruesome has been very rewarding. Playing with Malevolent Creation was great. I toured with Brett a bunch of times. I’m very humbled, grateful, and fortunate that I have been able to do the things I’ve been able to do. Hard work to…
…the quartet. We reached out to bassist/vocalist Peavey Wagner recently on Skype for this quick update on the new EP, bonus tracks, playing live again, book plans, thoughts on physical/digital media, chart positions, plus future plans including more Refuge shows. Dead Rhetoric: Spreading the Plague is a special EP release for Rage consisting of three new songs and three bonus tracks. Can you discuss the thought process behind this EP – especially…
…again. We had been sitting at home for nearly two years. We didn’t do much online, we had the album done but we didn’t want to release it because it didn’t make sense. We wouldn’t have been able to promote it properly, it would have just died on its own. I would rather be out there playing live. I hope we can make the most of these months and years, put it behind us. We have a beautiful tour lined up and we are ready to roll. I can’t complain, you…
…king for a band but 18 when Asylum started. I had met our original drummer online. He came to jam, and the band started soon after. At the time, I was in a thrash band called Servant – it didn’t go anywhere or do anything so what became Asylum was kind of like a side project. Servant broke up and that’s when I knew I wanted Asylum to be a thrash band. I didn’t have any sort of qualities in mind, I just wanted to play guitar! Our sound developed mo…
…the second album Descending into Xibalba released in 2020 – then play some online festivals with artists like Jinjer, Shokran, and Arise in Stability while reintroducing people to the latest version of that debut album. Killing for Pleasure Forever contains thirteen of those original fifteen tracks, updated with better production values plus the insight/knowledge of the musicians on hand – the current rhythm section getting a fresh crack at these…
…olution of people learning the craft and the access to so much information online? What are specific traits or tools that you hope these players work upon that will be beneficial in the long run? Carstairs: I’ve been teaching for ten years. There are definitely times where I feel like my playing has gone stagnant, and you have to take the time to be critical about what you do to be better. When you don’t have a private teacher… I’ve had many priva…
Just before online media consumption usurped the old-fashioned in print marketplace, this scribe used to be a co-editor for a few years in the late 90’s/early 2000’s at Snakepit magazine. Unearthing a lot of bands across metal’s history that at the time were long forgotten – or had broken up – Toxik would be one of those acts we covered, interviewing over a few issues drummer Tad Leger, singer Mike Sanders, and guitarist Josh Christian. Pioneers…
…Van Halen. That is where it is. When you have the delivery mechanism with online media, social platforms, Spotify, the market has opened up. I believe our asset is our willingness to stay the course. Our ability to grow and delivery new content that is relevant. To stay on the edge of what is accessible without going too extreme, but able to draw from the influences of our past and stay relevant with the new kids growing up. We are older and matu…
…different things. We did demos to a click track, and then the invention of Skype happened, making it so much easier. Facetime, and Zoom, and it’s so much easier to do things from afar. To Chaosmos, when we started in 2020, we did 70,000 Tons of Metal and in February we did 3 weeks of shows in Central and South America, co-headlining with The Faceless. In March 2020 we were starting to do an Operation: Domination tour, there were 35 dates booked an…
…orks out really great. Dead Rhetoric: In another interview I read of yours online, you mention a love of Ronnie James Dio and that Rainbow Rising is your all-time favorite album. What songs or memories do you have relating to that album, and did you ever get the chance to witness Ronnie live either in his solo band or with Black Sabbath before his passing? Hallström: Yes. My first connection with the album Rainbow Rising I was eleven years old, an…
…rries for a week or two. I like to do full packages, I won’t lie I also do online mixing and if that’s all that is in their budget, and if you live in a different country, it’s a great way to do stuff. I prefer to do a front to back production, then you really see the vision. The decision about what the final drum sound is going to be on an album, should be there if that vision needs to be there when you are tuning that drum kit, start mic’ing it…
…the shows, we want to share our music with people and not just send it out online. That is one thing, and we are two singers. We work with that in mind from the start, from scratch. When we start writing a song, we know there has to be two vocals, two characters more or less sometimes. Things should happen, not just Michele sings verse A, I sing verse B. We want to make it a little bit more interesting, we are two melodic vocalists. And we started…
…ks, stirring melodies, passion, and enthusiasm. We reached out to Marco on Skype recently to give us insight into how this band came together, the songwriting and recording sessions, crowdfunding campaign success, thoughts on power metal and the old/new generation of followers, plus what the future holds for this act against the work of Temperance and Serenity. Dead Rhetoric: The seeds for Fallen Sanctuary began back in 2018 when Georg and yoursel…
…iness how small the world is. Dead Rhetoric: In a previous interview I saw online, you mentioned that Ronnie James Dio is your number one hero – tell us about your favorite memories regarding this man, his influence on you as a vocalist, and did you ever get the chance to meet him or see him live in concert over the years? Carpenter: Yes, of course he’s my hero. I remember when I was a kid, I heard “Rainbow in the Dark” on the radio. There was som…
…aboration but as far as the artwork goes, that’s mainly her. I saw her art online, and what really captured me was her collage work. She does paintings too. Southern: We are trying to do something different with every album cover. The first one, we took a photo, and we made this mound of skulls. The second album let’s do a collage. It’s really popular artwork right now and can be creepy. We wanted a symbol that would stand away from our logo. Joe…
…ainly is turning heads. We reached out to bassist/composer Eric Dorsett on Skype one afternoon recently, who was very happy to tell us the ideas behind the band, if they will play live or remain a studio project, talk of Voivod, Nevermore, and 80’s new wave artists, plus discussion on another traditional metal project and a final Dead Conspiracy tape in the pipeline. Dead Rhetoric: Tell us about your earliest memories surrounding music growing up…
…have someone managing that for us, so we have a more professional presence online rather than me every once in a while, taking a picture and sending it online. Those are the bigger challenges – how to deal with social media, how to build your brand locally, getting booked on better shows and better tours. We are finalizing a deal now with a management and booking company who will hopefully resolve that for us moving forward. Dead Rhetoric: If you…
…ch one of us would work on their own parts and we would regularly meet via Skype to discuss the progress and new ideas to improve the songs as they grew within the context of the whole album concept. We were a lot more focused on connecting the songs with each other so they would form a well-rounded entity (than we were when composing Irradiation). Everything was recorded right away so that we always had an up-to-date demo version (and pre-product…
…nd. These days, you can do things yourself, and promote your music through online media. The problem is every band that just started out yesterday can record an album and throw it out there, even if it’s shit (laughs). The good bands don’t get the attention they need to survive. From an artistic point of view, it’s good that you can throw it out. Financially, maybe not so much because you drown in the masses. Every time has it’s ups and downsides….
…headliners. Fortunate enough to speak to all five members of the group on Skype one recent evening from their rehearsal room, you’ll learn more about the latest record, their choice to go back to a DIY release, moving to Vancouver and gaining a new drummer in the process, plus talk about thrash’s resurgence thanks to the internet, visiting Taiwan just before the COVID-19 shutdowns, and future touring/promotion plans. Dead Rhetoric: Silhouettes of…
…beknownst to many. We reached out to Mario (aka the Bavarian Lion) through Skype, and he gave us the whole story behind the vocalist change, the stories that inspired much of the lyrics for the record, thoughts on digital versus physical product support in metal, plus future plans which hopefully include more North American tour dates. Dead Rhetoric: Last year Serious Black went through a significant lineup change, losing vocalist Urban Breed and…
…de of the world. I tooled around online, this thing popped up already done online for the first album. We got the rights to use it, I liked having a character. Spirits of Fire to me is like my modern Doctor Butcher. A metal band I get to have fun with. This fire spirit is like my Eddie – I have this thing online where I am trying to get people to name him and animate him. With the new record, Frontiers had the art done and married that. We’ve got…
…e road. That’s why at the end of 2020 we went and started doing live shows online. At least we could get together in a studio, even though we had to be two meters apart. We have to keep in mind it’s always great to go on the road with a new album. Dead Rhetoric: How does a veteran band like Voivod handle the ever-changing music industry landscape – where things have moved from physical sales/mediums to more of an internet-based, streaming/digital…
…ey talked/shared experiences with us. We also won a 2013 worldwide contest online too. Dead Rhetoric: With that period of time, what can you say about how the band’s sound has changed in that span? Cruz: It’s changed a lot, but we have always kept the identity. My vocals are the same [laughs]. So the identity is there, but we have changed. I had a tumor on my thyroid that caused me to have surgery and we had to stop playing for while and I needed…
…Morgana Lefay mean something to your record collections. We reached out on Skype to drummer Tom Björn and bassist Johan Fredrikson to catch up on the latest release. We cover everything from the lyrical content, the slow and steady work ethic behind the band, their work with various record labels over the years, special memories from their careers, and talk from acts like Mötley Crüe to Opeth to Ghost among others. Dead Rhetoric: 1349 is the lates…
