Power trio outfits check off massive appeal to this scribe – the less is more principle places key components at the top of the list to strip performances down to those essential elements in straight ahead constructs. Nitrogods lives in this world – delivering stripped down hard rock ‘n’ roll with bluesy, rough around the edges attitude that sits well with people who love that fine line between heavy metal and old school classic rock. Valley of the Gods as the fifth studio record comes five years after Rebel Dayz – although smartly releasing a 2022 double live album 10 Years of Crap – Live to satisfy the hordes while waiting out the COVID-19 activities.
With lyrical themes that subscribe to road trips (“Left Lane to Memphis”), alcohol haze moments (“Last Beer Blues”), as well as struggles to accept the reality / celebrity media sensationalism (“Prime Time Terror”), listeners can expect a diverse selection of musical themes that incorporate influences like Motörhead, ZZ Top, AC/DC, Nazareth and other early NWOBHM tastemakers. Between the multitude of cranking chords Henry Wolter pushes out in different slide, bluesy or hard rock/heavy metal angles and the forward-thinking bass distortion that acts as a second lead instrument from Claus ‘Oimel’ Larcher, the sonic push to the highway trucking “Rotten Sucker” or the aforementioned “Left Lane to Memphis” provides two memorable arrangements on first (and subsequent) passes. When the band chooses to slow down or take a left field turn, you can expect slide guitar action next to some 50s/60s bluesy style elements next to a forceful Klaus Sperling steady drum foundation within the title cut before they return to normal metal formats for second half favorites “Gimme Beer” and “Ridin’ Out”. Claus’ whiskey soaked, sandpaper-ish melodies keep the group’s appeal probably to more of a working-class crowd – but you cannot deny the charm as these songs sound rough and ready to conquer any stage these musicians choose to take on.
We need bands like Nitrogods that off set the complex intricacies other styles provide. Valley of the Gods delivers 14 primal tracks executed by seasoned musicians getting to the heart of what makes heavy metal and hard rock so important. Get on your motorcycle and find the open road – this is a great soundtrack to feel the wind whipping in your face as you enjoy the trip.
Melodic death metal possesses a wide array of choices when it comes to the blending of catchy hooks / runs against the energetic aggression of the riffing, tempos, and extreme to clean levels of vocal employment. Danish act Livløs has been active for over a decade – sustaining a DIY ethos while establishing themselves as a viable force on the live scene. Their latest album The Crescent King differentiates itself from the typical Gothenburg / Scandinavian movement, possessing a raw, refined approach that speaks to an old school aspect balanced next to a killer sci-fi, cosmo-fantasy narrative lyrical concept which evolves over the course of the record. We reached out to bassist Benjamin Andreassen to catch up on some wonderful Norwegian-related musical childhood memories that include black metal ties, thoughts on joining Livløs, work behind the new record, special live show memories, important metal albums, and future plans.
Dead Rhetoric: What can you tell us about your earliest music memories growing up during childhood? At what point did you start discovering heavier forms of music – and eventually the desire to want to be a musician and perform in your own bands?
Benjamin Andreassen: (laughs). Straight to it! This would be for me personally. It’s a little bit special. When I was a kid, most of this relates to stories my mom has been telling me and my sister has been telling me because I was very young, I was too young to remember personally. I grew up in Bergen, Norway, our upstairs neighbor turned out to be a bit of a celebrity, Varg Vikernes if the name rings a bell for you. Turned out to be a big figure in Norwegian black metal, he did a lot of stuff that he shouldn’t have done. He was arrested and this was our upstairs neighbor when I was five to seven years old. The rest of my family have quite fond memories of him because he was a very polite young man, 18 to 20 at the time. He was a musician, a bass player and a songwriter. He would come home, dressed in this crazy chainmail and stuff – obviously most known from Mayhem, Burzum, and a couple of other acts.
When I was a teen, I started revisiting some of the stuff that he had released over the years, I got into heavier music that way. In tandem with the traditional introduction of heavier music – I got into Metallica, Megadeth at 12 or 13. This connection back to Varg, having grown up there and what he meant to our family, was a big thing when he was arrested. Our neighbor was in the media all of a sudden. I listened to a lot of black metal, The Faceless, Nile, more death metal I got into later on. Pure death metal I’ve gotten into more recently, as I always felt like I wanted my death metal to be mixed with something else. Melodic death metal I have learned to love over the years. It’s nice revisiting some of the stuff you listened to when you were a kid, it was quite out there. Maybe all of it is not as scary as it first sounded when you were younger.
I started on the guitar when I was nine or ten. In my very first band I was a guitar player. It was a cover band when I was 15 or 16. We did quite a few gigs, Friday bars and university parties – even a couple of weddings in there. Which was a lot of fun. It came to a stop because people started their studies, move abroad. I knew because every time we had a little break, I would gravitate to the bass. There’s something about the low end and the majestic sound that the bass provides, it resonated with me. I knew I wanted to transition to the bass at 18. I bought my first bass, put on Opeth’s Damnation, and I tried for weeks to learn that entire album because it has a lot of great bass parts on it. Not too fast or too technical, it was a very good starting point for me. A lot of the theory, I could push over from the guitar, but everything else was a different beast. The size and gauge of the strings, especially the frets, it took a while.
I was so lucky that during the final gig that I did with the first band I overheard a funny scenario where you hear enough of a conversation that you know what to do with it but then you hear nothing else of the conversation. I remember hearing, ‘hey – have you seen this long-haired guy in the Iron Maiden t-shirt asking for a bass player to join his power metal band?’. Obviously, I had to find the guy and I found him. The week after I auditioned for his band, I couldn’t play bass at the time. I went there, it didn’t go very well but he took a shot. He had seen the show I had done on the guitar – I practiced my ass off and I came back a couple of weeks later. I got the gig, but I practiced because these guys were good. We played together for many, many years. Life happens, the band came to a natural stop.
I did a lot of session work on the bass for heavier genres. I started writing stuff on my own, practicing a lot in those early days. I looked at Alex Webster, Billy Sheehan, Justin Chancellor, all of these incredibly technical bass players. I wanted to be able to do something like that. But that’s not something you do after a year. I didn’t always gravitate towards the bass, but I got there in the end, and here I am now, sticking to it.
Dead Rhetoric: How did you get the opportunity to join Livløs in 2022? Were you familiar with the band previous to joining?
Andreassen: Yes, we actually gigged together. I had been in the Danish metal scene; people tend to know each other as it’s a small scene. I didn’t know them well, but I did know of them. The same for them, they knew of me. I spoke to Jacob who also produced the album. I was super interested in playing something super heavy, as my music tastes gravitate more towards death metal, black metal, but I never had the opportunity to play that in a live scenario. I called him up, he said he would take a note of that. I recorded two or three albums with Jacob in other constellations at the time, he knew of me. I got a call from Franz (Posch), the lead guitarist, asking for a stand in, temporary thing for a Danish and European tour. This is great. We spoke for a long time about it, I said yes. At least during the domestic part of the tour, my wife was pregnant at the time, so I had some technical difficulties doing the European tour as it was smack down in the middle of that.
I had a couple of rehearsals – I knew of them, didn’t know their material very well. The first week I listened to it all the time, to know these songs by memory. There’s a lot more to (the songs) than I remember, things that surprised me initially. I practiced, I get to the rehearsal space, I could play 3-4 songs, we had more sessions. I did ten-twelve shows with them, they are the nicest guys. It felt very natural, it didn’t feel like the temporary, hired gun. There was a lot of ambition, a lot of drive. My previous project at the time was during COVID, and we did things remotely because everybody lived away – moved everything online. We never met up in a rehearsal space to have a community around that. Here was a chance to be a part of that again – and play something that was right up my alley, something heavier than what I was playing currently. During those shows, I changed my mind, and I wanted to be a part of the band on a permanent basis.
Dead Rhetoric: The Crescent King is the third and latest studio album for Livløs. How do you feel about the songwriting and recording sessions developed with this set of material?
Andreassen: It’s a bit of a loaded question to me because you tend to think the newest album is always the better album. I definitely feel like that this is strongest album yet – I’m also biased because this is the first album I’ve played on with the band. (laughs). I feel like if you compare it to the previous albums, the sound of Livløs is much stronger – it’s more in tune with what the band wants to sound like. There is more cohesion in the songwriting, the songs are more thought through, more methodical. There are great elements in the first two albums, don’t get me wrong, but on this third one there are greater elements that are tied into each other a little more. Less material where you think if we needed to do this part four times, we cut things to the bone a little more this time.
I came in at a time where there was a skeleton and a structure for most of the songs. It was a hectic time, I still had to learn some of the old catalog for live shows but also learn these new tracks. There were a couple of more tracks that didn’t make it to the actual album, where we cut them. There was a lot of new material, and I wanted to put my own spin and feel to it, not just quickly learn guitar parts and try to duplicate them on the bass. I wanted something more that was me – it was a lot of work in those months leading up to the finalization of the songs. Quite a few live shows during that time – it was a good working process. I’m looking forward to being in from the start – where we have no songs whatsoever and being a part of the whole thing.
Dead Rhetoric: What influences shaped the cosmological fantasy-inspired narrative in the lyrical concept of this record? How important is strong lyrical content and melodies to the overall package and presentation of songs for the group?
Andreassen: Yes, I would say so. In terms of what inspired it – as many a metalhead before us, we are huge nerds. In different ways, be it from games – Niklas (Lykke) and I are big fans of the Dark Souls universe. Big sci-fi nerds, be it the classics. Niklas is most responsible for the lyrics and the themes of what this album ended up with, it’s a good mix of a lot of inspiration from the sources I mentioned here. We are very good at pushing each other, once you have the beginning of a thought and you put it out to the group, we can contribute to it with other source material or spin on it. It ended up being a theme that we can very much all get behind. It created a strong narrative that would add something extra to an album. We decided quite early on that it would be a conceptual album with this theme as a centerpiece. Which became interesting as we started to put the songs together. Extra consideration goes into what the track order will be like. Which songs we put where – which instrumental themes and melodies fit best into what each track is trying to tell from a lyrical perspective. In retrospect, committing to the concept album was quite difficult but also a really good challenge.
Dead Rhetoric: You’ve released three videos to date from the record – “Usurpers” which is an animated effort, “Endless Majesty”, and “Orbit Weaver”. Were these obvious single choices to premiere from the record, and how do you feel about the impact videos have in the current marketplace?
Andreassen: The obvious choice – we debated it. The answer would be no. We talked a lot about what songs to select. We wanted songs to have a bigger register. Together with the team that helps us getting the album out, we ended up landing on songs that were not the longest – a little bit more easily digestible for the current landscape but provide a view of what this album can do. I remember us going back and forth on a song like “Harvest” – which was not one of the singles, but we debated whether it should be. We ended up concluding that it was too long and too slow, and we wanted to hit people in the face right away. In that sense “Orbit Weaver” was a very, very clear choice. We are very happy with the singles and what we ended up selecting as singles.
Videos do add something. Life is very fast paced, and you need to pull on more strings to hold people’s attention. We can discuss whether or not that’s a good thing, but it helps at grabbing people’s attention. The animated video – they all turned out very good, and all contribute to the song and what we wanted to achieve and accomplish. It helps us pull on more channels – people are not going to look on a still picture on YouTube for seven minutes and listening to the song in the background. Having visual cues helps – especially in terms of getting the story of the conceptual album out, it’s been a big help. There are a lot of lyrics in here, and the lyrics are amazing, Niklas did a fantastic job, but we know and acknowledge a lot of people aren’t going to sit there and read through a CD booklet of death metal lyrics. For those not willing to do that, a video will tell more of the story. They can get a taste of the storyline there.
Dead Rhetoric: How would you describe the band performing live versus what people hear on the record? What have been some of the most memorable shows you’ve done to date?
Andreassen: We strive towards not having that much of a difference. The production is quite raw and organic, so it doesn’t differ that much from what we sound like live. There is a little bit of layering, and we add a couple of extra tracks like everyone else does. There’s nothing crazy going on there – not triggers on the drums, overdubbed guitars, overdubbed bass or vocals. We don’t use any samples in terms of backing tracks. A little bit of it on the more ambient track, but it’s a story of its own and we wouldn’t put it in a live sitting. The rest of the songs sound quite close – Jacob (Bredahl) as a producer, it’s one of the things we like about recording with him – there’s not a lot of polishing or cleaning up. If you don’t play it right, you have to play it again. Because he isn’t going to sit and fiddle every kick drum or bass hit – it sounds the way it’s recorded, and we do that live as well.
We have a couple of memorable shows. Every one of them is connected to a funny thing that happened that day, or just a show that was well played. In recent memory we played the Copenhagen Metal Festival a couple of weeks back, together with many acts from the Danish metal scene. It was packed, the crowd was with us all the way, we all left the stage high on energy and happiness. We played the band’s biggest show to date, Copenhell 2023. That was absolutely memorable for us – the biggest crowd, 15,000 people. Playing a show of that magnitude, it humbles you. Leading up to going on stage, I remember being extremely nervous. And then the year before, I was a stand-in and we played the Gaffa Awards, an award show in front of a finely dressed crowd. We were the heavy metal band – there was a hip-hop act, singer / songwriter style acts. It was a different show to play, we had pyrotechnics with us to cement the fact that this is the metal act coming through (laughs). It was amazing, and it was livestreamed on national television. Other guys in the band would also highlight playing the Inferno Festival in Oslo, Norway, Eurosonic they would highlight as well. Other international shows before my time. We always have fun when we are on the road.
Dead Rhetoric: What are three of the most important metal albums that have helped inspire you and shape your outlook on the genre?
Andreassen: Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk – Emperor. Sons of Northern Darkness – Immortal. There’s a lot to choose from. Blackwater Park – Opeth has to be in there, definitely. Riitiir with Enslaved, definitely would be one. Moving into further back – Conquering Dystopia and the self-titled album featuring Alex Webster on bass, showed me things sonically and technically primarily to hone in on what he’s doing on the bass, it’s amazing. I’ve listened so much to the Mr. Big albums, especially some of the solos Billy delivers, his bass playing is monstrous. S+M by Metallica may be an oddball choice, but it’s the album that got me into Metallica. Where do I start with Iron Maiden? I can’t pick an album in that catalog. Those have shaped in one way or form. In more recent times, Job for a Cowboy and their latest album Moon Healer. It’s been so long since they released something, but I think the new album is close to perfection. No one sounds like that. The songwriting on that is fantastic, and all of them are phenomenal musicians. I don’t know where we start with Cannibal Corpse either.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the horizon for Livløs over the next twelve months when it comes to promotion, shows, festivals, tours, or other activities? And what’s going with your power metal act Steelbourne?
Andreassen: There’s no activity with me and Steelbourne. I’m still friends with them. Spending some time on it, and there will be some tracks coming out, so I’ll probably play bass on it. The Livløs album just came out, and the reviews have been very good, the reception amazing. It’s really fun to see the comments and reactions. We will play a couple of festivals in Denmark, and a winter tour next year in Europe. We plan on going abroad somehow, a couple of shows in the pipeline in late spring/ summer of 2025. We are planning for more international shows to get the album out there, nothing concrete though I am allowed to say. Promote the album, play a lot of shows, try to bring more people in. We love playing live, the real core of the band is about the live shows.
Evolution has been a constant in this Finnish act’s style. Founded in 2004, Antipope started as a black metal band with progressive tendencies – eventually adding doom, gothic and industrial aspects to their sound. Doors of the Dead is the seventh studio album for the quartet, this scribe’s first experience in taking in their sound – and its quite an eclectic, engaging mixture chock full of progressive / traditional chops pushed into extreme measures that fuses decades of influences into this intriguing soundscape through these eight songs.
Upon initial passes the standout aspects that catch these ears immediately include the shape shifting speedy to controlled tempo / riff interplay which takes place often as well as the bard-like meets vicious blackened delivery from vocalist / guitarist Mikko Myllykangas. One specific song can go from blasting measures to Iron Maiden-like progressive / traditional/folk-ish cultural instrumental hallmarks as “The Maker” envelopes the listener through this cavalcade of sonic spectacles in a mood shifting manner over its 6:39 timeframe. Distorted / whispering vocal effects sit next to a normal Hansi K. / Blind Guardian-ish melodic texture for the slower, doomier “Brotherhood of Babylon”, the unison background vocals and circular, bluesy lead break giving the song this ancient, Alexander the Great meets mythological spirit. Engaging guitar play from Mikko and second guitarist Antti J. Karjalainen fills the landscape with a mix of clean ambiance, propulsive main riffs as well as thoughtful instrumental / lead parts – as songs like “A Ritual of Snake and Dove” as well as the left-field ballad “Sacrifice” showcase. The title cut is the longest track at 9:23, closing the record in full progressive, traditional metal ambiance – displaying everything from choirs to time signature fluctuations, strong bass/drum intuitive shifts, ideal twin guitar / cultural earworms, as well as this serene keyboard / acoustic guitar portion that helps convey time standing still out in the calm, natural beauty of the wilderness.
A year in the making, Doors of the Dead proves Antipope can take multiple subgenres of metal to blend their sound into something highly engaging and potent for long-term appeal, especially if you enjoy everything from progressive/traditional metal to the doom, gothic, industrial, and extreme/blackened angles they execute. If you’ve slept on the discography of these gentlemen, start here and work your way back into the crevices, as this scribe plans to do.
Frantic activity has been a hallmark for this Finnish thrash band Jewel Throne since arriving on the scene in 2019. Three quick hitting EPs arrived in four months, soon giving way to a series of singles and two more EPs as lineup shifts took place. Now the quartet have arrived at Blood Vultures, the debut full-length of twelve songs where these musicians combine a lot of the passionate raw aggression that put this style on the map, death metal nuances interwoven into a style that goes for the jugular.
Many of the lyrical themes encapsulate life’s difficulties and the stupidity that can arise through the human race – certainly adequate material to match the fierce musical proceedings on display. Expect riffing that’s intense as well as layered in a semi-melodic context – incorporating aspects of German thrash next to early Scandinavian death platforms to construct these compositions in immediate, focused molds. As a vocalist Jesse Huovinen has the dual growl to sadistic scream terrorism angles down pat – check into his maniacal, rhythm-like mannerisms for “Cosmic Titan Engines” as early proof to his paint melting escapades. Simpler riffs from guitarist Toni Koskinen build to explosive payoffs where tremolo picking or punk-ish angles lead to these chaotic measures that fill the aural landscape in head banging ecstasy – “Psychotoxic Assault” exemplifying the thrash, death, and early traditional 80s mix of sounds that could make this a favorite.
Distant, dirty measures in specific tones and production values align with an older sonic playbook – once again making listeners believe this material could have easily come from the early 90s just as much as its hitting the streets now in 2024. Songs like “Instant Apocalypse” and “Suffer the Fools” combine elements of Sodom, Destruction, and Venom next to early Swedish death pioneers like Entombed or Grave as far as intensity and attitude. The band also understands the need to throw listeners a proverbial dynamic bone, where the mid-tempo riff reigns things in for a brief section or two as you’ll get on the anthem-oriented “Hammer Down the Last Nail”, the narrative sequences signal the blistering transformation to semi-blast proceedings. By the time the final song “The Overlord” finishes in its tremendous, extended send off with its multi-tiered laughter, screams, and moans, the 41 minutes should obliterate any negativity to transform your surroundings with a proper mindset – as most great thrash records are capable of achieving.
Jewel Throne may be very old school in waiting five years to release this debut album, but Blood Vultures contains enough seasoning and power to be positioned adequately in ‘must hear’ ranks. Ideal for those who want more of the underground feel for this genre versus anything polished to the hilt.
Thrash metal has now been in existence for over 40 years – where a mix of pioneers and their offspring continue to explore the heaviness, energy, and power of the movement. Bay Area act Hatchet since their inception in the mid 2000’s wish to put their mark on the style, releasing four full lengths while gaining an opportunity to establish themselves in a very active global scene. Their latest EP Leave No Soul consists of three original songs plus two special covers, their first release in over six years. We were able to catch up with guitarist/vocalist Julz Ramos on the long gap between releases, the special cover choices, thoughts behind working with Marco and M-Theory Audio, touring experiences/lessons, old versus new thrash bands, how saturation affects appeal for current artists, and where the future lies for the band.
Dead Rhetoric: Leave No Soul is the latest release from Hatchet – six years removed from the last full-length Dying to Exist. How did the band handle the prolonged break from recording/ touring especially in the pandemic years? Were you able to reset and refocus where you want to take the band at this point in your career?
Julz Ramos: Yeah. There was definitely like you said six years there – 2018 was the last full-length that came out. We decided to just at that point slow down, we had toured quite a bit, and we wanted to regroup and the whole pandemic happened at the same time. That turned into a little bit more of a break. We finished this batch of songs that we were working on and put together after the last touring cycle. They were some new songs and not songs we had been working on for years and years. Through the power of the internet, growing attached to being at home, it took a little longer than anticipated to put together these three new songs and a couple of covers.
Dead Rhetoric: Did it also make sense to go with M-Theory Audio considering your long-standing relationship with Marco Barbieri?
Ramos: Personally, we’ve been working with Marco for a long time now. More than ten years now. He’s helped us in everything from publishing to managing, stuff like that. He was really the one who has consistently had the band’s best interests at heart. We had floated the idea of signing with M-Theory Audio before we signed with Combat for the last album, Dying To Exist. There was some speculation that maybe this Combat (deal) would actually take off, and keep going into a bigger thing, which unfortunately didn’t at the time. It made sense then to go with Combat, but this time around Marco has had the best interest at heart. He had been behind the scenes coaching, managing, all that kind of stuff. This was the right thing to do, and we’ve been really happy with things so far.
Dead Rhetoric: Where do you see the three new songs sitting in the catalog of Hatchet material? And how did the special Annihilator and W.A.S.P. cover choices come about – as I feel that it’s wise to choose something unexpected that may turn listeners on to different influences they may not expect from you guys?
Ramos: As far as the covers go, we’d only really done one cover that we recorded on the last album and that was the Vio-lence one (“World in a World”). Between the different lineups, we never could really agree on the right covers at the time we would be recording. The reason we did that was that at that time the band was set to never return back in 2018. Let’s put our own spin on this, put a little bit of a more modern production twist on this and see what happens. Through there we talked about different things. The W.A.S.P. cover “Hellion” was something I always had in the back of my mind, I’ve always been a fan of really kicking hair metal, driving hair metal. That song always gets me going when I am driving, exercising, or doing dishes at home, I can’t help but go crazy with that song. Since I was singing, everyone gave me free reign to try it. It ended up coming up okay. Our bass player Devin, who’s a vocalist in his own band now, he helped me with some of the highs in that song because my voice doesn’t really have that carrier pitch that he was able to do. As far as Annihilator goes, “Human Insecticide” was one of the first songs I heard from them, it was on a Best-Of collection, and I think it was a live version. That was the route that we went as far as the stops and starts in the riff. That was my first introduction to them, and I was like why aren’t these guys more talked about? That went to back an old influence of mine, everyone is on board again.
The new songs, it’s a natural progression. Everyone would know it’s us. It’s something I tend to mention a lot, it’s not a huge, drastic change, but it would make sense to people who’ve followed Hatchet all along. It’s where they should go and should progress to. I think it all came out good – very aggressive and strong. I think people will be pleased.
Dead Rhetoric: For the cover art, you used Andrej at All Things Rotten – do you enjoy that consistency for the band as far as the covers and themes that they’ve been able to develop over the years for the band?
Ramos: I do. We’ve been using him since the Dawn of the End album cover, our second album. I was blown away by him, another local band from this area Fog of War, they were actually using him first. I saw one of their covers and a shirt design and I was just blown away. He is easy to work with, his price is fair, the work always comes out great, we have a really good back and forth dynamic. I’m always trying to convey something with one of the songs and he usually is able to bring things out in a really cool way. Unless anything goes downhill, I plan to keep using him as we have a great relationship.
Dead Rhetoric: What has the band learned being on tour for various acts like Metal Church, Flotsam and Jetsam, Trivium, Warbringer, Kataklysm, Krisiun, and Jeff Loomis among others? What are some of the trials by fire aspects that you’ve become seasoned and learned from to make Hatchet so impressive in terms of your live performances and road outlook?
Ramos: I guess this goes back to 2019 when we were last doing our touring. Touring with a bunch of different bands, even if they are all metal or variations of it, it’s really interesting and you can take a lot and learn a lot from other people. Not necessarily emulation, but ways of things they do and learning from that. I’m also a sound guy for my day job, so I always feel that learning certain things about how other people do things, I will geek out.
As far as performance, it’s an unsaid thing even if you are touring with your favorite band or someone you idolize, there’s always a friendly competition that you want to do your best. Do your best for the crowd that’s there that really wants to see the headliner, open some eyes. A lot of times, the tours that we were on weren’t completely thrash or didn’t go in our vein or style. We were hunting and fishing for tours like every band so we took what we would get. A couple of times, you have to win the crowd over for one reason or another. Going balls out, as hard as you can, headbanging crazy – feeling it, and wanting to feel it back from the audience. People pay money for a show, they don’t want to see you at rehearsal up there staring at your shoes. You want to be entertained, you don’t necessarily need the Judas Priest back and forth dance, but some of that along those lines is fun to bust out every now and then.
Dead Rhetoric: Did you find those tours helped solidify your following? Especially when you are playing on a bill of heavier bands like Kataklysm and Krisiun?
Ramos: As we go back more and more to certain places all the time, there would be more and more people coming back to see us. It was a small handful, but each and every time it was cool. Within our four and a half albums of material, there is enough to pull from and you can make a heavier set – our set tends to be more of the faster stuff. Again, with touring with Metal Church, we could play some of the slower, mid-tempo stuff that could be an ebb and flow in the set. Especially with some of those crowds, they want to hear and see stuff like that. Just know your audience, know the bands and the differences can be to try to cater a little bit to that.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you assess the differences between the original pioneers of thrash metal and the generation that you are a part of within Hatchet? Do you believe it’s been tougher to gain more traction and a following as a second (or third) generation of thrash followers adapt to the changing tides in social media, music consumption, streaming services, and so forth?
Ramos: A good question. I don’t think it’s been more difficult, per se. The first round of purveyors, they almost had it easier in a way because that’s all there was. There was no internet, an abundance of record stores, or different radio options. There (were) usually some radio stations that played hard rock, and what you heard on there was all you would hear. That could be harder too, if you didn’t get on that wave, you weren’t heard. When you got on that wave earlier on, I feel like that was what was there. Now, there are so many more choices and platforms, it’s almost confusing. Also, the attention span is much shorter now. When we were coming on the scene in 2006-08, that was the end of the whole Myspace thing. There weren’t as many platforms as Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Threads that are all related, not that but a part of that. There is a lot more you can get yourself out on there now, but it’s a lot more saturated. It’s harder to get traction.
There are definitely bands that are doing great and are leaders of what this movement is now. It’s harder to pinpoint one great song, or two or three great songs that are like ‘these are the classics of this time’. There are a bunch of good (songs), but it’s getting hard to see what’s going to be able to stand the test of time. I don’t know if that exists anymore.
Dead Rhetoric: When looking at the career of Hatchet, do you have a favorite failure that occurred that maybe set you up for a greater, more successful outcome or learning experience in the end?
Ramos: Being signed to Metal Blade for the first album, that was a surprise to us. We didn’t do a whole lot to have that happen, they approached us. Having that happen, and then being dropped by that label, it’s something that you realize you are going to work harder at to appreciate more. There are great things about smaller, indie labels, but a lot of the power and drive wasn’t there, which took a lot more from us. I’m glad we’ve done things our way, it’s something to learn from. You count your blessings from that.
Dead Rhetoric: What sorts of hobbies, interests, and passions do you like to engage in away from your music activities when you have the free time and energy to do so?
Ramos: I do live sound for a living, so that seems to take up quite a bit of my time. I enjoy geeking out on that, reading up and learning more about that area to be the best as I can on that. I’m starting to get into some venue management production stuff. Work with some bands in a different capacity. I hang out, spend time with my dog. Enjoy my me time, I don’t have a whole lot of hobbies.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you view the current landscape of the music business? Where do you find the biggest areas to navigate over the course of the career of Hatchet?
Ramos: What I touched on early, the saturation and the amount of people that can make themselves artists now. It’s a double-edged sword. It’s great that people can do that and there’s a lot of great stuff out there, but there is so much material now. You can’t tell the difference between who’s in a band, who is a one-person outfit. Even us too, with this EP, we are taking advantage of the internet and that whole world. Back in the day of the purveyors, you had to go full circle with the touring, the recording, the marketing. That can be hard – it gets hard to get seen these days.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received – which either applies to your personal life or your music career? And if people seek you out for advice, what tips or words of wisdom do you try to share to them?
Ramos: That’s a broad question. The best advice… I guess I don’t know if I’ve received any advice on the road or by touring people that really stuck with me. The general golden rule – be a good person, don’t be a dick, clean up after yourself when you are on the road. Especially around the headliners – it’s their show, it’s their tour. Learning how to have the etiquette of the road. That’s more just (life) advice than advice that applies here to.
I would say, anybody that is trying to be in a touring band, I would not necessarily discourage it but also not encourage it. The saturation of what’s going on there, it can be an easy business to get lost in. With what’s out there, it’s hard, and a lot of people have these delusions of grandeur as far as touring and what that’s all about. It’s very different than the 80s and 90s, it’s a work horse aspect now until you get to a certain level. We are not at that level, and there are certainly other bands bigger than us, you’d be surprised how much work still goes into this. Just be happy with being a musician and be happy with what you play.
Dead Rhetoric: What are the three most important metal albums that helped shape your outlook on the genre?
Ramos: I could go on forever thinking about what those would really be. Off the top of my head, ones that really stuck out for me would be Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast. Definitely Metallica – the black album or Master of Puppets. Master of Puppets, “Battery” is what got me into thrash, that was insanity for me. I heard the black album before that, but that was mainly a gateway especially for mainstream people. Probably anything that’s Judas Priest for me. You can’t go wrong with that as far as influential, legendary, almost every album has really good songs. I would probably go with Painkiller and Defenders of the Faith.
Dead Rhetoric: When you think about the word success when it comes to your work as a musician, how do you define that term – and has it changed from your initial start to where you are today with Hatchet?
Ramos: Yeah, I think that’s a really weird word to throw around for a musician, success. I guess if I look back with what I started to do with this band, I definitely more times over surpassed that. Once we started to do this, getting signed and start touring, that really changed the outlook of where I wanted to be at that point. As a kid when you start, when you want to play at the biggest local venue, or open for a large band, have people wear your band shirt for the first time, that was the only thing I wanted to do when I started this. The Phoenix Theater here in Petaluma, California, was one of the ones I wanted to play at. It ends up becoming something else, or sometimes exactly that. For me, it started there, and now releasing four albums, labels, tours, different lineups – that was never anywhere in the books when I started of where I have gone. That’s a good thing, and it’s really cool.
Dead Rhetoric: Considering the many lineup changes, how do you feel about the current incarnation of the group?
Ramos: I feel good about it. Right now, we are all spread out a little bit more in terms of geography. Since the last tour, our personal lives got scattered out slightly more from the Bay Area. It makes it a little harder to get together. This is the lineup that I want to play with moving forward. We are sitting in a good, solid lineup.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the horizon for releases, tours, festival appearances, or other activities over the next twelve months for Hatchet?
Ramos: Right now, there is absolutely none. I don’t mean we are not going to do anything. I’m coming to a point in my life where I’m having to do more adulting, having a house and that makes touring and dropping things at the drop of a hat much more difficult now. It’s hard to say. The power of the internet keeps us together at this point, and our musical vibe going. Any tours or future recordings, I have nothing that I am pressuring myself at the moment. If something were to come up that was cool, we’ll entertain it. At this moment, we are all enjoying our day-to-day stuff quite a bit. We will see how the response goes to this EP.
Momentum matters in an industry flooded with new weekly releases seemingly from every corner of the globe. Hot off the heels from last year’s third album War Remains, Virginia crossover thrash act Enforced issues a quick hitting EP with A Leap Into the Dark. Listeners will enjoy three brand new originals next to three b-sides that include a remastered version of “Casket” originally issued via Decibel magazine as a 7” flexi-single in 2021 plus covers from English Dogs and Obituary that showcase the varied influences at play for the group.
Chugging heads down riffs barrel over the naysayers right away as “Betting on the End” features the hardcore caustic bark of Knox Colby while the dual guitar assault of Zach Monahan and Will Wagstaff zigzags between Bay Area stomp and East Coast pummeling aesthetics. The title track next serves up some tasty stop/ start action a la classic Slayer, the steady double kick nuances sure to elevate adrenaline as the swirling rhythms cause rage-fueled emotions to quickly subside, the gallop nature to the arrangement sure to appease all headbangers. The fastest of the new trio of tracks “Deafening Heartbeats” circles a bit more Kreator-ish meets Swedish death metal atmosphere, especially in terms of the speedier vocal melodies matching the tremolo picking and fleet snare to fill activities to make this a spotlight song to these ears, a sophisticated lead break transforming into this ultimate pit-moving riff that’s undeniable in execution.
The primal side of the group comes out on the second half of this release – “Casket” a whirlwind effort that puts early Metallica against Nuclear Assault in under two minutes as the guitars, bass, and drums battle to the death, while “Deadly Intentions” from the debut Obituary album Slowly We Rot contains those sick, drawn out growls as well as doom to semi-thrash passages that are unmistakable from the Florida death pioneers. Crossover UK legends English Dogs also gain reverence on “The Chase Is On”, a track originally hitting the streets in 1984 but still sounding fierce yet bold forty years later. 19 minutes later, most will be picking themselves off the floor, drenched in sweat as they pop bones back into place – a proper crossover thrash experience taken to an audience clamoring to latch onto fresh takes on this sound for the youth as well as the older guard.
As Enforced prepare for their next European tour assault, A Leap Into the Dark gives the fans a glimpse into what charges up this quintet – as well as where they will be heading on subsequent efforts.
Ahhhhh, Astral Doors. Another Swedish band I’ve been diggin’ on for a decade now, ever since 2014’s Notes From the Shadows found its way to these ears. I have reviewed each album since then for a few publications with no end in sight. These guys give us music and I’m all over it. So with that in mind brand spankin’ new disc The End of it All is a banger for sure. Nils Patrik Johansson (lead and background vocals) once again delivers great and catchy vocal melodies while Joachim Nordlund and Mats Gesar bring the guitar fury in spades.
Right from the first notes of opener “Temple of Lies” and the thundering gallop of “Masters of the Sky” you can just feel the metal emanating from every fiber of the group’s being. “Heaven’s Gate” manages to be hooky with an “Am I Evil” / Diamond Head feel. The title track gives off Dio vibes, so not surprisingly this was my absolute favorite song. “Father Evil” is another stellar song with guitars that wreck shop and the rhythm section of Ulf Lagerström (bass) and Johan Lindstedt (drums) packs a wallop. You add Jocke Roberg’s keys and here’s another killer number. “When The Clock Strikes Midnight” is a tune I can see doing very well in live venues all over, while epic closer “A Game of Terror” gives us seven minutes of that greatness we’ve come to know from this band.
Astral Doors, you’ve done it again. Here’s to my next decade with y’all as you keep the metal comin’ in hot and heavy…as it should be. Pick up The End Of It All, pour yourselves a drink and have a blast.
Standout Tracks: “Father Evil”, “Masters of the Sky”, “The End Of It All”, “A Game of Terror”.
Modern metal continues to find new ways of expressing itself. Some bands wisely choose to think outside of the traditional box, and it helps to give them a sound that not only explores more creative spaces, but makes them more attractive to listeners who might be a bit intimidated by the genre as a whole. League of Distortion started with this genre-blurring idea with their 2022 debut, and Galvanize does it’s best to bring this mentality even further forward. There’s a lot of heavy, distorted riffing to be found, but it’s in the group’s exploration of different tones and soundscapes that seems their strongest asset.
Combination of the harsh industrial and electronic elements, along with the thick, buzzing tone of Jim “Arro” Müller’s guitars, there’s a massive driving factor to the title track as it opens. Factor in Anna Brunner’s soaring yet occasionally raw screams, League of Distortion open up in a very incendiary fashion. “My Hate Will Go On,” dives further into those heavy, industrialized patterns while Brunner elevates the chorus into a glorious rock/metal sing-a-long with just the right amount of grime. Later cut “Crucify Me,” revels in some pounding electronic influences and danceable rhythms that are bound to even get some of the dyed-in-the-wool metal times to consider shaking a leg.
The way that they flirt with different elements makes Galvanize have some twists around each corner. Hooky, pop bouncing accompanies the verses of “Chainsaw” until it explodes with heaviness, reggae-esque grooves and beats open up “What’s Wrong With Her” as the band switches between urgent, distorted battery and uptempo horns and electronics, and “Anti-Hero” flirts with hip hop elements before moving into a rousing chorus. Even if they stick to a more metallic base, songs like “In Our DNA” and “Suck My Blood” swerve into punishingly heavy moments that allow the more melodic and electronic sections to feel more compelling and intriguing.
League of Distortion continue to push the genre boundaries with genuine flirtatious pleasure. Galvanize is nothing if not a fun and engaging album that keeps things heavy while delivering plenty of hooks that pull from a myriad of musical sources. They have a sound that is fresh and capable of leaving you waiting to hear what they are going to do next. There’s not a ton of new groups that come out of the gate that you can say that about. It’s worth an investigation to see if they hit the marks for you.
Jumping into the modern metal fray back in 2022 with their self-titled debut, League of Distortion hit upon a sound that was firmly metallic but willing to branch out into other directions as needed/wanted. The upcoming Galvanize is their sophomore effort and ups the game in every direction for the up and coming band. We reached out to chat with vocalist Anna “Ace” Brunner to discuss the fine-tuning and approach to this new album, lyric writing for both herself and other bands, the challenges of new bands (and social media), as well as some other topics about this engaging new act.
Dead Rhetoric: After a successful debut in 2022, how did you approach Galvanize?
Anna “Ace” Brunner: I would say the main difference is that it feels like we have been on tour for the past two years. For the first record, we sat down during COVID and we really had time to focus on songwriting. This time, I had ideas, but I wondered when I would have time to sit at home and lay out my ideas and logic? My phone was full of ideas, but to really find the time to sit down was a bit tough this time. But you make it work, you find it, and you get so much inspiration on the road. It feels different to write when you know exactly how it’s going to feel in front of a crowd, or at least you think you do, because you are right in front of the crowd the whole time.
Dead Rhetoric: What did you feel came into the band as you toured more? What did you pull in from those live shows into Galvanize?
Brunner: I love the catchiness of our choruses. I love that people who don’t know us yet can listen to a song and sing along. This is what unites people at a concert – when you are singing/screaming/yelling, that’s what we do with our music. So that was definitely something we wanted for this second record. I also get influences from what’s going on in the world, what my friends tell me about problems or things that influence them. For me, it was clear each time this happened that I wanted to try to write a song about something, to give more to the people out there who might be in a similar situation.
Dead Rhetoric: So when you are looking at lyrics then, are you more drawn to certain things than others? In terms of if you hear something, you realize that’s something you could work with versus hearing something and not knowing how to approach it?
Brunner: Yes, it’s more the feeling of ‘I want to write a song about this topic’ or I have a line in mind. Then I try to write about it [laughs].
Dead Rhetoric: How does writing work between yourself and Jim [Muller]?
Brunner: We had a couple of songwriting sessions, and I talked to the boys also [Felix “Ax” Rehmann and Tino “Aeon” Calmbach] in the bus or in the car going to a festival. Sometimes we talk about what is happening and I love to get influence from them about topics to write about. For this record, we had a bunch of songwriting sessions, also with our producers, and that’s how the songs started. Sometimes I had ideas for myself, or Jim and I were working on something. But there were many, many songs or ideas going on and we decided to work on some of them.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you feel that League of Distortion gives you the freedom to avoid ‘playing in a genre box? The music seems pretty open. I can’t sit down and say, “it’s this or it’s that.”
Brunner: Absolutely. This is what we wish for League of Distortion. We took our freedom because we had nothing to lose. There was nothing out there. Of course, we did have our fans in mind, and sometimes I was thinking if something was going to be too crazy. But I think this is what we stand for. I think our fans understand that. “Maybe this is too much outside of the genre, but I still like it,” or “I don’t like it, but I like the other song.” Having the freedom of having no musical boundaries, mixing those sounds and styles together that we love, that is absolute freedom and it’s one of the things I love most about League of Distortion.
Dead Rhetoric: That said, do you feel there are certain aspects that you strive for with a League of Distortion song? Are there certain feelings or sounds that you would associate with the band?
Brunner: I think it’s the freedom with different styles. The heaviness and the empowerment statement we have with our songs. I always want the empowerment – I don’t want to be like, ‘the world is shitty and I can’t do anything about it,’ because yes, the world is shitty but we will stay strong. We are together in this. Together we can find a way or find a way out of this situation at some point. But also, I’m almost giving the people who listen to our music the feeling that they are not alone. There is someone else thinking about this. There is someone else who wishes for something better than this. We can take action. We can make things happen.
Dead Rhetoric: The band nicknames. I wanted to ask about them – what was your intention for having each member having a nickname in the band?
Brunner: For me, I can feel my artist persona more, “Ace,” within the name. It might be a little bit weird, but when I do songwriting for other bands as Anna Brunner, I feel a bit more in that I please the situation. I understand the band and what they want to write about. “Ace” for me is this strong persona who knows what she wants, and is who I want to be. It helps me, with this new nickname, that I’m going to go on stage as “Ace” and it feels a bit more relaxed as opposed to being Anna Brunner, who has been around the world for all these years and has her experience. “Ace” has only existed for four years.
To be honest, it does help to think different, for me in Exit Eden for example than for League of Distortion. For Jim, being in Kissin’ Dynamite as well. I call him “Aro” when it’s about League of Distortion. I write to him saying what is going on and then it’s always clear what is going on. It helps to separate the bands too!
Dead Rhetoric: I was actually going to ask something similar to you – how do you compare writing for League versus Exit Eden?
Brunner: I always want to give a positive message when I write. It’s just who I am. When I write for other bands, I don’t think I could ever write just as destructive, negative lyric for them. I don’t think I would feel it. For League of Distortion, we have the freedom to be a bit more extreme. Not to say, ‘okay is there too much of this or that,’ it’s warranted that we are maybe a little straightforward or a bit over the top. So people think about things for themselves and maybe wonder, “did they really mean it that way?” That’s what we want from League of Distortion.
For Exit Eden, it has to fit the symphonic metal music, and style, and universe. But I love that too. There are certain words I would never use for Exit Eden, and certain words I would never use for League of Distortion. So it’s cool too.
Dead Rhetoric: In terms of writing for other people as a whole, do you find that to be more challenging or is it easier to write something for someone else?
Brunner: I just love writing lyrics so much. For me, I have so many ideas each time. When I know the artist, it’s even better because I can feel what I think he or she wants to say. At this point, I would say it’s still a little easier for League of Distortion it’s a bit easier to write because there’s no one saying I can’t do something. When I write it, I know I can do it. Sometimes, some artists say something is too extreme. They say, “can we find different words because I don’t want to use extreme words like that?” For League of Distortion, I can do whatever feels right. But I think this will change in the future. Once you do another record and another record with your own band, I hope it’s not going to happen but I think it will get more challenging through the years.
Dead Rhetoric: With the lyrical aspect in mind, what’s a song or two from the new album that you are super proud of, lyrically, with how they came out?
Brunner: That’s hard to choose [laughs]! I really love to play with words. Sometimes it takes so long to finish lyrics because they are not quite what I want. Then of course if we have a deadline, it gets more challenging because I have the time in my head. I remember changing “Galvanize” shortly before going into the studio. I’ve very glad with how it turned out now because it was a little bit..I wanted to have some gaming words snuck in there. I also wanted it to be emotional and for people to understand, even if maybe they weren’t galvanized. It’s a very dry word and for German people, they don’t even know it, some people, so they don’t have an emotion. So I’m glad how that worked out.
For “In our DNA,” I did research on the nature vs nurture question. I watched a bunch of youtube videos about the topic. About psychopaths and how they got this way. There’s all this footage out there. It was a song that I spent a long time trying to understand how a person who is maybe bad from birth, how they would react or talk about things or what their childhood would be like. That was something also challenging and trying to find the right words for that.
Dead Rhetoric: Earlier you mentioned about wanting to have that positive piece to it. In terms of the way the band sounds and how you sing, do you think that’s a part of the time in how you formed the band during COVID or is it more just being positive in general?
Brunner: Definitely, but also having the time during COVID led me to really think about what was going on in myself. And also talking to friends who were really having time to talk with them for hours since I didn’t have anything to do or go. It opened up the opportunity to think about topics that I had set away, or talk to friends about things that I thought many people could relate to and I wanted to give something. If I can help a friend about something by talking to them, that’s great, but if I can write a cool song about it, I can help even more people and that’s even better for me.
Dead Rhetoric: So have you gotten those types of responses from people in the live setting or through social media that the songs did help them?
Brunner: Yes, and I love it so much. Even with songs that we didn’t play, there were people who came after a show and said thank you for writing a specific song, because it did help them so much. It also shows me that the music, over whatever way people are listening to the music, that I can reach people or help people even if they don’t make it to a concert.
Dead Rhetoric: You are two albums in, what do you feel are the goals for League of Distortion at this point? What’s the impact you are looking to make?
Brunner: On the one hand, I’m just grateful to play my music and I want to have more gigs for the band so we can be out there even more. I also wish to be big enough to be able to give away even more work. To focus on the creative process, because that is the challenge in the beginning. You have to do a lot of things yourself because you don’t have the money to pay people to work for you. So that’s something I am really looking forward to and hoping that future will come. Where I have my people and crew that can assist me. A family we can put together and trust. We are working on it, but there is more we can build in the band and crew together. That’s on the personal side.
Of course, I wish we could tour more and tour the US. I want to get out to more of Europe than just Germany. I wish that more people would get to know us and listen to us. Maybe even reach some pop listeners who are not actually into metal, but get the connection through some of our songs like, “ok, this is heavy but I like it.” That would be a personal goal I would love to achieve.
Dead Rhetoric: There is this breadth of material in the music, which I love that stuff, where it has more universal appeal. It’s not just stuck to the metal genre and gatekept by it. It’s important nowadays to have a sound you are shooting for, but it’s still hitting those marks that you can pull people in that you might not otherwise.
Brunner: Exactly, because I do really love our metal community. I have the feeling that people like to dress the way they like and they have a connection. Maybe they are a bit different but they seem welcome and I think it’s a great place to be. I wish more people had the chance to be a part of this community.
Dead Rhetoric: With the touring aspect, and not having an ‘in the genre box’ type of sound, who do you feel would be great touring partners for you?
Brunner: I have a dream, but it’s probably too high to reach in the next ten years [laughs]. I personally would love to tour with Papa Roach. It’s maybe a personal thing, but it’s a different style, but I think it would fit in a way. I think it would be something I would really love. I was also asked in a different interview about Amaranthe. I would also think that would be a cool match. It’s a little more on the musical wave. But there’s a few cool bands that might work out that I would love to tour with in the next few years.
Dead Rhetoric: In terms of reach, what are the challenges in starting out as a new band and trying to get anyone to listen to you nowadays?
Brunner: For me, to be personally honest, the biggest challenge is social media. It is great, if you use it right, and it can be a great platform. But I’m really bad at it. It does not come natural to post things. It’s on my to-do list. I like to reach people and when I see the reactions I am happy about it, but it doesn’t come naturally. There’s many bands that are way better at social media and sharing what they are doing/going. I’m super old school. I’m a person who had a great evening with a friend and didn’t even think about taking one picture. With the band, we are all a little bit like that. We need someone to make content from things, so we can share since it’s super important.
This is definitely, honestly, our hardest part. We love to create music. We have great producers, and a great management and platform and people who book for us. They all do a great job, but that’s a thing that we can’t source out yet and we have to do it ourselves. That’s my greatest challenge.
Dead Rhetoric: That’s something a lot of bands have been saying lately. The challenge of being a musician but also a content creator. A lot of people don’t want to do that, and I know I wouldn’t want to either.
Brunner: Especially when I look totally shitty and write a song. The last thing I think of is to take a photo or make a video and say that I am writing in my room. I’m in a creative bubble. I don’t even open Instagram or respond to WhatsApp messages that are really important. I want to be in that tunnel. I understand that fans want to see what’s going on. It’s kind of a paradox, which I understand. It’s just super hard.
Dead Rhetoric: What are your plans for the rest of this year?
Brunner: We have our very first headline tour planned! It’s super exciting. There are 8 dates, only in Germany, but it’s going to be our first time when we get to decide everything. We get our long set and choose our support bands. We want to have a very cool evening for our fans. We hope that people even come to more than one concert, because it’s also the community feeling. I see the same people at concerts. I ask if they know each other, and they say they met here and I think that’s so special. It’s special about our music and the metal community. I’m looking forward to that like a little child! That is the most important thing going on.
Then next year, it’s open! We will see what happens. We have a few cool festivals planned and just hope to be able to be on the road more and reach more people while doing what we love.
