Together since 2013, Danish band Phrenelith have been very active on the recording front – releasing numerous demos, EPs, and two previous full-lengths before this third album Ashen Womb hits the streets. The four-piece sit firmly in the obliteration death metal mold, coming at things from more of a brutal landscape – although there’s this sinister darker atmosphere that pervades much of the songwriting. Engaging listeners through a mixture of focused arrangements as well as the occasional epic offering, you’ll get nine haunting tracks that strike hard into the underground hordes who clamor for vicious riffs, savage growls, and blasting measures next to controlled elements that pummel bodies.
The record opens with “Noemata” – a doom-like death piece under two minutes that resonates well in its lower tremolo-picking plus ambient guitar layers, setting the stage for the relentless “Astral Larvae”. Drummer Andreas Nordgreen shifts seamless between his blast beat parts and normal death metal tempos in this intense manner – almost tribal when need be, yet not quite off the rails in spots. The guitar work hits all the ferocious parameters, David and Simon Daniel unfurling some sinister rhythms, counterpoint stop/start action to make “A Husk Wrung Dry” and ominous “Stagnated Blood” standouts. When these musicians choose to expand their abilities, you get an almost ten-minute epic title cut to close the record. Between the cultural instrumental sequences next to the frenetic tremolo-fueled blasting passages, the rhythmic growls serve notice that you are in for a whirlwind of aural activities – old school death metal at its finest, stopping on a dime around 5:40 for a quieter yet no less evil twist before the aggressive pace kicks in swirling momentum like tornados ripping apart the land before them.
Even the branch-laden band logo next to the volcanic eruption on the cover speaks volumes to Phrenelith’s appeal if you dig acts like Incantation, Immolation, or Morbid Angel of old. Ashen Womb gets the job done in under 40 minutes – achieving all aspects one would expect in an ideal death metal platter.
Amaidontoudai (甘い断頭台), or “Sweet Guillotine,” is a relatively new act formed in March of 2023. It comes with an interesting, if not a bit wild, premise. The theme of the band is that “Those decapitated during the French Revolution come back to modern Japan and start a girl’s metal band.” And yes, it does sound like some sort of out-there anime premise. But don’t mistake the theme as being something that is less serious. Amaidontoudai deal in an intriguing mixture of power metal, gothic vibes, and even some melodeath. Something that should impress those who discover them.
After a suitably cinematic and gothic introduction titled “-The Ceremony of Decapitation-” the music quickly accelerates into fiery power metal glory with “Fumetsu no Hana,” which continues the atmospheric notes while the dual guitar shredding of Yuria and Hitomi is put on full display. Minami Maria’s vocals hit the classic power metal frequencies, and she carries a solid range, even if her growls don’t get the full focus until the later cut “Chi.Shi.Bu.Ki.” where they interchange frequently with her singing, while the music around her intensifies to the point of hitting a more gothic-drenched melodic death metal aesthetic. Add in some neoclassical guitarwork and it’s a excellent scorcher at the album’s midpoint. “Labyrinthe” showcases a restrained, melodic sense, really letting the atmosphere add to the power metal underpinnings, giving it a strong gothic vibe at the same time.
The recent single “Bloody Dress” still seems the perfect entry point for this particular act. The explosive drumming, soaring guitar melodies, and just the right blend of shredding and gothic energy make it an incredibly catchy track that plays to even some light black metal vibes when Louis gets the drums going full tilt. That said, the guitar-forward melodies are a constant highlight, and another track that really does a nice job of standing out is “Barairo-kakumei Wonderland.” The melodies are as playful as they are bombastic and riff-fueled, and augmented by a driving energy, rumbling basswork, and cinematic atmosphere that really allows it to take off before the catchy yet thunderous chorus.
Amaidontoudai quickly make a name for themselves as an emerging act that can effectively pull together the frenetic energy of power metal shred and haunting gothic atmosphere to tap into a sound that feels ripe with promise. Memoire Rouge can absolutely soar when it wants to, or insert a dark, macabre mood instead. There’s a lot of fruitful ground they can play with in the in between space going forward.
Appearing in our collective website email inbox, Finnish act Katoaja displays an interesting blend of rock and metal influences across the board for their debut album What We Witness. Aspects of Genesis to Pain of Salvation, Gojira to Opeth, and everything in between appear in the songwriting and performances for this set of material. We reached out to bassist Matias Ärrälä and vocalist Juho Kiviniemi to learn more about their musical background, how the band came together, the work behind the album, thoughts on the Finnish metal landscape, worries about the world, and insight into the next record.
Dead Rhetoric: What are your earliest memories surrounding music growing up in childhood? At what point did you gravitate towards heavier or more progressive forms of music – and eventually the desire to want to perform in bands?
Matias Ärrälä: My beginnings with music overall started with my mom’s record collection. Saturday Night Fever, the soundtrack, Jamiroquai, and all kinds of 70s disco stuff. That’s where the rhythm heavy disposition comes in originally, because I love to dance and bang on stuff when I was a kid. When I was around twelve, I found a friend who played the drums, and a bass was handed to me in a music class. It was the first time music made sense to me. The first song I played was by Ozzy Osbourne.
Then of course we are both from northern Finland, and heavy metal is very prominent over there. Many famous metal bands from Finland come from up there. That’s what many of my friends listened to, and it was the cool thing to like. I grew out of thinking about the coolness of it and just found the subject matter fascinating and the rhythmic content of it. I also fell in love with progressive rock, Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson, quite early. They are cinematic and the story-telling qualities, especially in like Relayer, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, all of the craziest stuff has stuck with me the most. Although I do love simple pop stuff made well of course. The things that have stuck with me the most have been rhythmically complex, and somehow innovative.
Now I’m thirty, and we got the ball rolling with this band a couple of years ago. It’s been a long progression.
Juho Kiviniemi: My father was quite the prolific accordion player. He was doing the Finnish touring circuit for a while. That’s the earliest memory for me, entertaining people and playing music could be a thing that you could do. For me, it was a coincidence that my brother played bass in a band up north where I was from. Somewhere around high school, it was full of guitar players, nobody seemed to want to play bass. At that time, I thought I could borrow my brother’s bass. That was around the time when Nightwish was starting to get really huge. That’s how I got into the heavy music stuff. We were trying to do covers of Children of Bodom, Pantera, stuff like that. We met for the first time doing a pop/jazz conservatory at the same time. Metal was on our minds, and Matias was playing in this cool Jimi Hendrix tribute (act).
Eventually we moved to Helsinki to do more studies in music. I started doing music production studies and Matias did more bass studies full-time. Things happened, I had these songs – and it has come to this point. We knew each other at the school, and I’m glad we got together to do this.
Ärrälä: One thing too is we have both played tons of different kinds of music. For work and for leisure, and we are not shy about that. In a way we are kind of from the outside of metal, but we both have a really long running love for this.
Dead Rhetoric: Tell us about the origins of Katoaja – how you arrived at the members that are involved, as well as your unique band name?
Kiviniemi: When I was doing my music production studies, there was a time where I had to do my thesis thing. The whole thesis was about how to incorporate lots of synthesizers in metal music, because there wasn’t a lot of material about it. How to get into it, because it’s such a guitar-oriented genre to begin with. I did that, and it was okay. At that time, we were done with that project, and I went to do my exchange studies in the Netherlands. I remember feeling like suddenly everyone was bonding around me nicely, but I didn’t find any traditional party life, exchange studies and I started doing songs in my dormitory. One of the first songs I made is the first song on the album “Nothing and Nothing More”. And the title track.
I sent those songs to the guys, and everyone seemed to be into it. At first, we weren’t even making an album to be fully honest. We were just messing around. Our guitar player Miko (Tekoniemi) and our drummer Eero had this rehearsal space they were using for this pop artist they were working with here in Finland, so they told us they had this space, maybe we can use this for recording. That’s how it started. And when Matias made the second song fully “The Sinking Cathedral”, it started to feel like this would be an album.
About the name of the band – we were rolling around with lots of different ideas. It was just something that stuck. We wanted to say something (that was) mysterious. In Finnish the name would roughly translate to ‘he/she who disappears or vanishes’. That sounds interesting. And we wanted it to be one word, we wanted to avoid a whole sentence because that is a metalcore thing.
Ärrälä: We also desperately wanted to avoid the heavy metal Latin thing (laughs). We wanted something that we could really stand behind. It’s in everything we do, really – up to the song titles, the tones that we use. We want everything to be something that feels fresh and inspiring.
Dead Rhetoric: What We Witness is the band’s debut album. What can you tell us regarding this set of material as far as the songwriting and recording process? How do you feel about the final output at this point in time?
Ärrälä: The album, the order in which the songs appear on the album is basically the order in which they were recorded, if I remember correctly. You can hear the progression throughout the album that we eventually started to know what we were doing. Especially vocal-wise. We were a bit new to the whole screaming thing. I had actually done it more than Juho had – but we learned it together. By the time you get to the last track “The Source”, it starts to sound kind of brutal (laughs). We’ve been working on new material already, and the vocals have been a non-issue now, we have learned how to do it in a pleasing way to us.
About the recording process. It came down to me and the drummer Eero, rehearsing the songs together and recording the songs live in the room together. Then guitars, vocals, and keyboards were layered on top of that. In the case of “Nangijala”, the keyboards were from the demo version, so we played over the top of those (parts).
Kiviniemi: In retrospect, it felt risky sometimes. We had some issues getting people to the same place. I feel the end result feels very coherent. It feels like a whole album instead of a bunch of singles put after each other. It had this danger aspect all the time in that sense, and this is something that we are going to change for the second album. We didn’t rehearse these songs as much as maybe we would have liked. It keeps the whole thing interesting.
Ärrälä: It did feel a little bit dangerous. We turned off the click tracks for a couple of sections on a few songs.
Kiviniemi: Overall I think (the record) turned out really great. And that’s probably because all the individual players have a really strong foundation. This is not our first band by any means, we have been doing all kinds of stuff. That’s what made it possible to do this in kind of a disjointed way. I’m really happy, and I think the lyrics and storytelling aspect came out really good.
Ärrälä: The narrative aspects that came about lyric-wise, it was kind of an accident. We didn’t know we were making an album during the recording of the first track. The music told us what to do in a sense. It feels weird, because it’s a complete product and everything feels like it makes sense now but most of it didn’t make sense to us during the actual process. We were just doing what sounded good. I mostly tried to convey a consistent theme and use words that sounded good coming out of my mouth. (laughs). It ended up making sense.
Dead Rhetoric: You made a conscious effort to keep things more organic and less polished, especially in the rhythm section department, with the production and tones on this album. Can you discuss your thought process behind this?
Kiviniemi: It comes down to our preferences in what we like to listen to in not just metal music. We like things when it comes to the rhythm instruments, I want to hear the personality of the players. When you listen to old thrash records, I like the feeling that it barely holds together and it’s going crazy. I strongly feel that 90% of modern metal records are totally overproduced. They almost sound like EDM – which I do love as EDM, but not in my metal music, please. That was the core intention – let’s not overedit this, let’s just let things sound natural. It’s nice to record what’s going on in our heads musically in the moment.
Ärrälä: For me production-wise, it was very important to give this record an organic feel. I have played on albums in which I listen to the final product, and I felt like it would have been totally irrelevant who played the bass on it. For example, it is produced to such a sterilized sausage, it could have been any one of my bass colleagues or programmed. It makes everything feel less worthwhile to me. On some of my favorite albums, you can hear every player’s personality so clearly. David Bowie’s Blackstar, or Synchronicity by The Police. I would like to strive for this when making music that we are really not going to make a profit on. Speaking bluntly – first and foremost this is for us, and the more we make this for us with very hardline principles, the more it might resonate with someone else.
Dead Rhetoric: What would you consider some of the biggest challenges the band faces at this stage of your career?
Ärrälä: Getting gigs! (laughs)
Kiviniemi: Yeah, that’s the big one. This is an international issue, in Helsinki as well as all across Finland. There are a number of decent-sized clubs that have been closed down, so you need to send out emails very early to the venues. Anything that is good for this size band, it’s so hard to get the right people even to connect with them. They get hundreds and hundreds of emails. It’s something that is not a very Finnish thing to do, to annoy people with emails. But you need to do this.
Musically speaking, we don’t really have any challenges. I feel we are surprising ourselves as we have similar backgrounds in music. The whole starting to get the live train running is the biggest hurdle right now.
Dead Rhetoric: Where do you see the major differences in playing live versus how the songs are on record?
Ärrälä: According to the few live performances we have done, we like things a bit more brutal live. We want the impact to be a bit heavier. Less of the ambient qualities live as well. We don’t use click tracks or backing tracks live at all. We like it that way. We love Meshuggah and all those bands that have this huge live impact. You can be more subtle on record, but live you have to be a bit more immediate.
Kiviniemi: That’s the main difference. Live is more straightforward and more brutal. If I don’t feel after a live gig just dying a little bit, then I haven’t done enough. In my experience, with the few gigs we have done, people seem a little bit surprised about this fact. I’m hesitant about the label of progressive metal to be honest. That’s because it tends to mean so much that it doesn’t really mean anything. You always get, ‘oh – you are like Dream Theater?’. Yes, sure – but that’s not what we are going after.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you view the metal landscape across Finland/Scandinavia versus other parts of the globe?
Ärrälä: Finland has its own style of metal traditionally, but it has become a bit more homogenized with what’s going on globally. I think people are under so much pressure to have music that sounds like valid internationally. Production quality and style-wise, it has stifled the creativity in the Finnish metal scene a bit I feel. There are great Finnish metal bands still – especially like older ones that have zero interest in what’s going on in contemporary metal. Like Stam1na for example – they just do their own thing, and it’s brilliant. Finland has this weight on its shoulders, metal-wise because of bands like Nightwish, HIM, Sonata Arctica. They have represented Finland in metal for so long. There are many copycats of those bands.
Kiviniemi: When it comes to Finland, the shadows of those giants are so huge. To me, personally, the metal scene – there are two or three melodic death metal bands in every little town. The basic baseline qualities are fine. Everybody knows how to produce good sounds, for me personally they are artistically stagnant. There are good things going on also – when it comes to Finland, things are evolving. Most bands are struggling to make things appealing, because of streaming, you have to get to immediate choruses. Overall, globally, there are lots of cool things going on – I’m not especially worried. The best things are still to come. Oranssi Pazuzu is one of the most amazing bands, their new album has been a great success globally. We are friends with one of the guitar players, we went to school with him.
Dead Rhetoric: What concerns or worries do you have the most about the world that we live in today? If you had the opportunity to work on one or two things to make society better as a whole, what do you think needs to be tackled first?
Ärrälä: As the political and lyric writer of the band, oh man, where do I begin? Maybe I should focus on one thing. The trifecta of China, US, and Russia is really scary right now. Oligarchies, billionaires, all that. Our lyrics aren’t online, but once they are – “Sinking Cathedral” are my brief thoughts on this subject. Money is the root of all evil. That’s all that is about, the things I mention. Money, influence. That’s a broad subject, and I’m really not equipped to delve into this much deeper. The imbalance of power, all that I’m rooting for (is) the little guy.
Kiviniemi: One big thing would be to make things better – keep pushing money to good education. That’s mostly because so much of the current landscape seems to be about information, warfare, and things like that. If we at some point can come to a common base of facts, things will get a little bit easier.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the agenda for the next year or so with Katoaja in terms of promotion, live performances, etc.?
Kiviniemi: At the moment we are getting the ball rolling with live shows. The big one for us, we will start rehearsing for a second album. We almost have this second one done composing-wise.
Ärrälä: The second album, of which we cannot say too much about, there’s something we know about it already. Now that we’ve had some experience playing live, we’ve tried to get that heavier impact, we notice that this second album will be more brutal, more direct. There will be less of those ambient things. It’s going to be much crazier, too. We have played two brand new songs live too, and they’ve gone down well live. We are feeling confident with our direction.
Officially leaving Nightwish in 2021 to prevent further personal difficulties (including depression) from worsening, Finnish musician Marko Hietala continues to pursue his own creative endeavors through his solo records. Roses From the Deep is the second such outing – a follow-up to Pyre of the Black Heart that came out in early 2020, showcasing the man’s songwriting and stylistic prowess across multiple genres of rock and metal.
There’s a steady stream of versatility present track by track that encompasses the more symphonic / gothic side of his influences right away on the anthem-like first cut “Frankenstein’s Wife” which soon shifts into a more progressive, early 90’s Queensrÿche-ish meets 70s Led Zeppelin-like direction on the follow-up “Left on Mars” featuring Tarja Turunen delivering a stunning trade-off duet for the ages. Explorative passages come into focus on “Dragon Must Die” – an eight-minute plus epic that contains Celtic/folk overtones next to normal rock/metal instrumentation, the atmosphere throughout dramatic in lighter or heavier measures to keep ears pinned as well as the crunchier midsection next to Marco’s forward thinking bass work. His Finnish heritage also factors in for “Tammikuu” – the bright keyboards next to the driving guitar work ideal to match the theatrical vocal melodies on display.
Marko’s history has always dipped into a mixture of progressive, folk, symphonic, and gothic influences from older rock to classic/current metal categories. It’s why you’ll get to enjoy a straightforward track like “Proud Whore” where the slower, bluesy verses build to this uplifting chorus featuring multi-part choir action, all the way to a riff-oriented pleaser with “Impatient Zero” that allows plenty of guitar shred fury to infiltrate the instrumental break sequence. Ending on a reflective quieter note with the title track, the musicians assembled execute these songs in a professional manner, no matter what style changes or feel is thrown at them.
If you are familiar with Marko’s history not just with Nightwish, but also his time in Tarot or guest work in Ayeron and Delain, you’ll easily understand the man has many sides to express in his music. Roses From the Deep presents a magnificent selection of songs where the minor touches matter as much as the rich melodies or large hooks on display. This scribe can’t wait to hear what appears next down the line.
A progressive death metal act from Reading, PA, Subterranean Lava Dragon merges members from Black Crown Initiate and Minarchist into a new act that seems ripe with premise. After all, both acts provided nothing less than top tier work in this particular subgenre of metal. Interestingly enough, this trio of vocalist Connor McNamee, bassist Nick Shaw, and guitarist/vocalist Ethan McKenna actually started this music over a decade ago, and it’s finally seeing fruition and release.
While one can grab some immediate enjoyment from The Great Architect, it’s a lot to take in at once. While it’s a pretty digestible 43-minutes, that’s divided by only six songs. It doesn’t take much math to deduce that each track is chock-full of complex instrumentation with all but two of the cuts exceeding six minutes each. That said, the title track sits as the shortest at just shy of five minutes, and is the most approachable to start with. It’s still full of mind-boggling melodies and prog fireworks, and what makes it work (much like the other tracks) is that there’s still a distinct heaviness to it. McNamee’s growls merge with the massive riffs. The slowdown in the track’s second half is almost doomy in its weight. On the opposite end, you have the nearly twelve minute “Bleed the Throne,” which never once loses steam. From crushingly heavy passages to soaring melodic moments, it keeps the listener fixated as it weaves its story through many tempos and dynamics. It’s also got plenty of soloing across the board that never really goes into overkill territory.
What’s also nice about The Great Architect is how each player gets to shine. While some groups get bogged down with putting the attention on the guitarwork, it’s just one piece here. McKenna does a fantastic job with keeping the progressive guitar melodies and riffs quite intriguing and complex (not to mention the solos), but it’s nice to see the wealth shared. His clean vocals absolutely soar at the right moments. Shaw’s basswork is a consistent joy, with a dominant sound within the mix and even allowing the opportunity for bass solos. McNamee’s growls sound menacing, and when contrasting with McKenna’s cleans, it makes for a interesting contrast that isn’t held to the same predictable usage that occasionally plagues extreme metal.
A fantastic new band to reference within the progressive death metal community, one has to hope that The Great Architect doesn’t go unnoticed. As a definite passion project that was fifteen years in the making, Subterranean Lava Dragon are a name to watch if you enjoy extreme metal on the more proggy side of the scene.
New Los Angeles act The Dark are set to unleash their self-titled debut EP later this month. Their sound is unique, with nods to everything from metalcore to nu metal to ’90s industrial, to simply name a few. There’s notable moody atmospheres, intertwined electronics, and some blunt heaviness all wrapped together in this exciting sound. We spoke with vocalist Craig Johns Jr. to hear some of the history of the band, what his production work has aided with in The Dark’s sound, social media efforts, aspirations about future live shows, and much more.
Dead Rhetoric: How are things in California at the moment?
Craig Johns Jr: Not very good. I’m personally situated in a place where I am okay, but a lot of friends have lost their homes and things are definitely stressful right now. Hopefully it will get better in the next couple of weeks. It’s a lot. LA is built from a lot of strong people and passionate people. I’ve seen a lot of people donating and delivering them. Everyone is working really hard. I hope it’s fixed soon, it’s a terrible tragedy for everyone. It’s devastating so I hope we learn from this and I’m proud of everyone for coming together.
Dead Rhetoric: How did The Dark come about?
Johns: The Dark started as a writing project about two years ago. Alan [Ashby] had reached out to me to work on some music in the realm of video game and movie scores, and then little by little it got heavier and it sort of turned into a metal band. Then we had the talk about whether we should go ahead and make it a band. So we did. We spent the first couple years writing tons of songs, then throwing almost all of them out. Then the search for a label began and finding members to play drums and bass. It was really just writing music for a while until we decided to take that leap and make it a real thing. We really came together in a very serious way in the summer of last year, so less than a year ago.
Dead Rhetoric: So what were those sort of initial influences? You said there was more of a video game and movie score kind of feel to start.
Johns: He [Ashby] had been playing a video game, Cyberpunk, which had a lot of more techno/industrial feels to it. He was very inspired by that. I’ve always been very into nu metal and industrial metal. So there’s a bit of that, as well as movie scores combined with him playing in metal bands for quite some time. I’ve been producing metal for a long time, so we combined in a unique way, to make the band what it is. ‘90s metal for sure, movie scores, a lot of electronic stuff – those are the influences.
Dead Rhetoric: There’s some notable ‘90s nu metal and industrial elements that you can hear creeping into the band. What do you like about that particular sound?
Johns: I don’t know if it’s something about the sound. I just kind of grew up on it. My mom was into heavier stuff growing up and I spent a lot of time in the day care in the personal training gym where she worked, and they played a lot of Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Slipknot, and Linkin Park. I just grew up on that stuff, and I think that whatever you listened to in your formative years kind of carries into your adulthood. It hits a sweet spot for you. I’ve written all kinds of stuff, but that’s the sound that gets me the most excited. There’s also so much room for exploration.
Metal in general is so diverse. I think that being able to play so much with the electronic space and the industrial space – there is so much impact you don’t really get in a lot of other kinds of metal or other types of electronic music. There can be such dynamics with it by just cutting things out or bringing things in. You can be really creative with the layers. I feel like it just feels like there is an epicness that is unique to the industrial side of things.
Dead Rhetoric: On the production side of things, have you taken anything you have worked with as a producer and applied it with The Dark, or things that you specifically didn’t want to work with?
Johns: I don’t know, I do have a bit of disco stuff I want to play. There is a very delicate balance between the organic and synthetic elements in that genre. You want to have a lot of very real sounding section with the guitars and horns, but you also want to have these electronic drums or synthesizers. To get it all to blend is something you learn. I think I used a lot of that in The Dark. I am constantly trying to blend what is a guitar and what is a synth. Or what is a real drum kit and what’s a machine. I think we exist in that gray area for the listener, not necessarily picking out sort of what is what, but how it all sounds together. I think keeping people in that space – the balance between what is real and what is not, and emphasizing the mood and impact over a particular tone or sound. I incorporated a lot of that, which I learned from disco.
Just to avoid it, I think there is a lot of formula out there, and I think I avoided a lot of that. Sometimes we use a lot of that, but it’s more like, ‘let’s just double this chorus, because that’s what everyone does and it just makes sense.’ So sure. But do I want to do that? When you have a new band, you have a new opportunity to do whatever you want and set your own template. There’s no need to just do what you have always done because you haven’t done anything. So I am careful to not do the obvious thing all the time.
Dead Rhetoric: Related to that, what do you feel you have to offer the average listener that helps you to stand out?
Johns: I think that it’s more of what we don’t have. We don’t have a lot of the obvious stuff, like the classic chorus sound a lot of groups have. We don’t have a big one-liner breakdown a lot of bands have. Nothing wrong with those things, but there are other bands that have really honed them and there’s no point in coming in and trying to do something that someone else has already done and are known for. I think that when someone listens to us, it’s not a metalcore band. It’s not that – it’s it’s own thing. It’s heavily electronic and you have so much dynamic between the push and pull of completely empty space and the overwhelmingly full and dense. If you are listening to us and you like us, it’s because it’s like watching a sci-fi movie but it’s like a band. There’s something very dense about that.
Dead Rhetoric: So do you feel there’s a lot of crossover potential outside of the metal market that you can appeal to? I know you have been getting played on Octane already.
Johns: I hope so. I definitely see the band as growing into a space that’s just not the metalcore scene. I hope that we aren’t stuck there. I want to see the band grow into more of a bigger, rock space. Theres always subgenres and you can chop things up however you want, like is it this type of metal or that type? But at the end of the day it’s all metal, it’s all rock. I think that I try to make it so the melodies are approachable for everyone. If you listen to really heavy stuff, there are some super heavy parts – screaming and breakdowns and all that. But I don’t think the band overall feels like something you can only listen to if you are into that sort of stuff. I want it to be approachable for everyone. But also, unique. It’s it’s own thing that a lot of people can get into.
Dead Rhetoric: A good chunk of the EP is already available for listeners. How do you feel the band has been received so far?
Johns: I think it’s way better than I thought it was going to be [laughs]. I thought that it would take a while to grow. We have so much growing to do – we are still brand new and small. But it was cool, our first song just had a bit more of a moment than I expected. I expected nothing, and there was a little bit of a pop, and it was a wonderful surprise. “Slip Away” has been received so well by radio and playlisting. It’s better than I could have imagined. We’ve been shocked and grateful and excited. So the pressure is on to continue to fuel that fire, and not let it be a flash in the pan. We are doing everything we possibly can every day to keep it going. We have a lot of people to thank for that. People on TikTok who made reviews, people on Spotify who put it on a playlist, and the amazing people at Octane who just genuinely like it a lot and want to keep playing it. You can’t ask for that. We are stoked and grateful. We want to keep everyone happy and want to keep them listening.
Dead Rhetoric: With the room for growth, is there anything that you can think of that you think would be a cool idea to expand upon? Any thoughts as to how you want to grow?
Johns: No, not like in a weird way. We don’t want to break into doing movie scores or anything like that yet. We are a new band, and until everyone has heard of us, I don’t think we can stop pushing. I want to be the biggest band in the world, and I don’t think you can set your goal anything short of that if you really believe in something. I think I just want everyone to check us out. It’s going to take some time.
Dead Rhetoric: How important is the social media piece in getting exposure for a new band? A lot of bands shy away from it, but do you think there is a certain amount of relevance to play the social media game and have it work in your favor?
Johns: Yeah, I think it’s a necessary evil. I don’t know if I want to say it’s a necessary evil – I don’t know if it’s really evil at all. I can be. There’s a lot of people who hate doing social media, and I get that. I think a lot of people have been pressured by a lot of other artists who had success in one pocket, to do what they did or some marketing person is telling them they need to make one post a day singing in your bedroom. That’s not necessarily true. I think it’s different for everybody. Who your band is, what your genre is, and what your personal vibe is. We treat social media like more of a gallery. We post our videos and songs on there. We aren’t trying to have people relate to us, or be cute with it. Here’s what we do, here’s what we sound like and look like, and we help people like it. That’s just who we are. I spend all day making stuff in a studio and I just post it.
I’m not spending all day chatting on TikTok. That’s not who I am and I don’t want to fake it. It would feel really ingenuine. But I love making art and I love showing it to people. We treat it as a gallery of what we do. I think the important thing is just getting your art in front of someone, so we do post constantly on Reels and TikTok. We try to get creative and repurpose – as long as something is going out almost every day, I’m happy about it. If you do like this genre, if you could like our band, then hopefully we have popped out in front of you. So just making an effort to do that. It’s overwhelming, social media. We just try to make cool stuff and post it.
Dead Rhetoric: You had your first live show last month? What goals do you have for the band in the live setting moving ahead? What would you like to achieve as a band with them, other than the obvious growth?
Johns: I’ve always hoped that our live show could sort of exceed the norm. I have had this dream that our live show is more of a 3-dimensional experience than just playing our songs really loud. I want to start playing with things like lighting and atmosphere, and other kinds of activation senses…even playing something like smell. I want to make it so when you go to the live show, your friend is like, “Have you done this before?” not just “Have you seen them?” I want an intense experience. We already play our shows super, super dark…not just because we are called The Dark, but I think it’s more intense that way. When there are no lights, there are no lights. It’s unnerving.
We think it’s cool to go in and have your adrenaline a bit high and be in the pitch black in between songs. It feels a bit more like an adrenaline rush than just having someone play loud. That’s great, but I hope that it becomes…I don’t know, I’d really like to change the game with that and really fuck shit up, but again. When you are a small band with a small budget, it’s hard to accomplish that. But I have a dream of making it a very one of a kind experience someday.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you feel that heavier music has been making more of a mainstream comeback?
Johns: I don’t know. I feel like when I was younger, it was huge. Maybe it was just where I was at. Nu metal went on to be more of a mainstream thing. Then in the 2000s, the Rise Records scene was getting pretty big. A lot of people who knew those bands and it was pretty cool. I think it has taken quite a huge dive. In the past 5-10 years it feels like things have started to die, but it’s starting to come back now. Gojira playing the Olympics was huge! That was really sick. It seems like it is coming back strong, but we are still on the climb up, so I’m excited to see how big it gets. But if you are structured in movies again, you are starting to see bigger shows again. Warped Tour coming back is huge. I think that all things combined, I think it’s coming back but we haven’t hit the peak yet. I’m hoping the peak is soon.
Dead Rhetoric: The band is called The Dark, and there’s a lot of stuff in there about the dark side of human nature. What’s appealing about that in terms of making a sound around it?
Johns: When I am making music, I think I am very visual with it. I’m not sure if it’s full on synesthesia but I feel like a lot of those sounds feel like those spaces to me. When I am chasing a certain objective, or a verse/chorus, and I have an idea about how I want it to sound, it feels very much like I can see these spaces or see the color of the art. I think that I am trying to make things sound how they really feel to me.
A lot of times it’s the same thing with what I am singing about. When I am singing about something cold and distant, I don’t just want the words to be that, but the part should sound that way. So I go to great lengths to get certain sounds and flavors that really reflect what I am talking about, so that it feels very connected. It was more of a theme of this, lyrically, before it became the name of the band. We had a song called “The Dark,” and it became the name of the band. That song later changed names and is now one of the ones that is not out yet on the EP.
Dead Rhetoric: You have those five songs on the EP, do you have more written that you are working towards with future releases?
Johns: Yeah, we are working every day on something. We have already started working on the record for after the EP. I have no idea when that will be out or even start to release it. But we don’t just stop writing because there is and EP coming out. As soon as it was done, we kept writing songs and now that will be a record. But yeah, Alan is always sending me demos and I’m always producing them. We are always working, always. It’s what we literally like to do, like playing sports or watching TV. We just like to work on stuff. So I do it all the time. There’s a bunch of stuff I have already written that is just sick.
Dead Rhetoric: A cool thing I have seen with some other Arising Empire bands is that the singles keep coming out, and eventually there’s an album announcement. But it keeps the music in people’s attention span longer that way, with the lead-up.
Johns: Yeah, if it was up to me, we would just release a song every 6-8 weeks forever. I don’t know if we need to have things packaged. I guess creatively, you can categorize things like when we wrote this EP we were in this headspace and this sort of sound. Then here is our pocket for when we were writing this album, and it feels like an album. It makes sense to have those things, even if we are in a singles-driven culture now. I like the idea of having the albums for categorization, or collections of different times of writing things. But as far as releasing things, I’d just release things constantly, forever if I could. It’s awesome, and I like making stuff. I don’t like not putting stuff out, just because we have to wait. The album comes out, you can’t just drop a new song a month later. You have to give it a bit. But I would if I could. I enjoy it, and I don’t want to stop writing or producing stuff.
Dead Rhetoric: What are your other plans for 2025?
Johns: We have our show on February 23 in Los Angeles at The Echo. We are super excited for it. It’s our first headline show. We have some really awesome openers for it. Kent Osborne and Chino. It’s going to be super sick. The tickets are up at our website. We have a few other shows and other things that I can’t give out details on, but they will be spread out throughout the year and the EP comes out in February and hopefully we will be touring our asses off. I want to be playing as many shows as possible. Then just cooking on the record. It’s a busy year already. We are shooting another music video in a few hours! We are constantly doing something and working our asses off. Putting out content, putting out songs and playing shows, getting ready for whatever comes next.
If one thing can be said for Jinjer, it’s that things haven’t exactly been easy for the Ukrainian band. They worked and worked to breakthrough, something that didn’t happen instantly with the release of King of Everything. The most recent and urgent challenge has been the Russian occupancy of their homeland, with the band having to be granted permission to continue touring from the government and become ambassadors. What effect has this had on the music? Well, intentional or not, Duél comes across as some of the most aggressive music from the modern act to date.
“Tantrum” instantly sets the tone for Duél as it’s opener. Exploding out of the gates with blastbeats and chaotic, complex riffing, it makes a statement of aggression. Not to say that the band’s longstanding groovy emphasis doesn’t show up, with more melodic moments featuring Eugene Abdukhanov’s basswork and vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk’s cleans don’t appear, but the intensity of the band at their most visceral is immediately notable. Later cut “Fast Draw” thrashes forward with dire urgency and breakneck speed. Shmayluk’s roars hit some masterful lows as the music comes into groove territory, and the music does not relent. “Hedonist” takes the dark aggression and channels it more into heavy grooves and murky atmosphere, and “Rogue” rolls out the fury with djenty chugs and progressive noodling.
But for all the aggressive energy present on the album, it’s far from one note. There’s still plenty of room for experimentation. “Tumbleweed” has an almost stoner doom feel to it’s riffing and melodies, standing as one of the most unique sounding songs the band has done. The emotive “Someone’s Daughter” switches between groovy and atmospheric melodies as it builds up to a breaking point. The title track works as a closing display of proggy melodies and tempo shifts between the melodic and heavy, showcasing all of the band’s continued evolution in one track.
While in some regards, what Jinjer is somewhat more predictable in their extremities between melodic and heavy clashes, its the space between that is most important. They prove themselves to be still hungry to develop and up the dynamics, whether it’s through being more progressive, intense, or in melody. They’ve put the time in to find a niche that is their own, and they continue to cultivate and expand that sound. Duél sees them standing tall, surmounting the challenges around them and continuing to up the sonic ante, proving themselves to be more than worthy of the hype.
Frontman for the dark rock/gothic act Lord of the Lost, Chris Harms has been riding high off some earned successes in recent years as his group has gained more attention at the global level. Thus laying some of the groundwork for his first solo effort, 1980. Given the title and artwork, it’s not too hard to see where Harms’ influences are showing into that decade’s synth pop and new wave experimentation. Something that’s a perfect fit for his quickly identifiable baritone vocals.
Those who have a soft spot for synthwave or ’80s new wave are going to have their day made when they hear 1980. Harms’ vocals are the centerpoint for each track, but the playful and/or dark and driving synths are bound to fight for your attention at every corner. There’s a touch of metallic and gothic influences only in the sometimes dark tone of the electronics, and his lower vocal register. It’s a fantastic throwback, and the way each track sets it up makes it fun to see where it will go. Opener and single “I Love You” entices the listener with it’s big synth and vocal hooks that sit on the danceable side of things, sure to bring a smile to ’80s nostalgia fans faces as they sing along. The same can be said for the rousing “She Called Me Diaval,” which offers driving synths that all but move in neon colors as Harms croons above it all.
But it’s not all bright, neon rainbows, and the album shifts into darker directions as well. “Past Pain” carries a distinctly goth-y flavor with it’s dark, striking synth beats and similarly gloomy approach by Harms. Closer “May This Be Your Last Battlefield” hits similar reflective notes, but in an even more ballad-y and pensive way. “Somewhere Between Heaven and Armageddon” offers something between the two extremes, with a combo of bigger hooks with a darker vibe overall. Something that “Madonna of the Night” seems to revel in, with it’s big pulsating synths and soaring chorus that also features Sven Friedrich in a great duet.
Big synth-driven and goth-y sounds await you on Chris Harms solo debut. Sure to appeal to ’80s synth fans as well as the Lord of the Lost crowd, it’s a surefire winner that gives Harms a different playground to sing through, and one that’s just as solid a fit as his main gig. 1980 is a fun, nostalgic trip with charismatic vocals that lead the way with plenty of dark charm.
Returning for their first new album since 2019’s Black Anima, Lacuna Coil are now on the doorstep of releasing follow-up Sleepless Empire. A long-standing act in the modern metal scene, and one that has made steps to grow along the way, coming from their more purely gothic roots and embracing new paths along the way without dissolving their identity, Lacuna Coil have kept their sound fresh. We caught up with vocalist Andrea Ferro to discuss the impacts from COVID-19, the influence of Comalies XX back in 2022, the core sound of Lacuna Coil, and even what he has gained as a member through the years.
Dead Rhetoric: Looking back at it, how did the COVID-19 pandemic impact Lacuna Coil?
Andrea Ferro: We never thought we would experience something like that. In the beginning it was obviously scary because, especially for older people that were dying, we were worrying about our dear family members who were older and more at risk. But we got lucky with that, and no one got really bad with it. For us, it was definitely weird to be home for 2 years. We have never been home for such a long time because of the touring schedule and recording cycle. So it wasn’t that bad, to be experiencing being at home and being able to play guitar and video games and watching TV shows. Financially, it wasn’t a disaster. Yes we did miss a lot of money from touring. But we got lucky with a couple of things, and with the support of the fans and merchandise. I worked hard on bureaucratic things in order to get money from institutions, and even some money from Facebook from the band.
So financially it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We made it through without too many problems. But it was definitely not a creative time for us. We did not feel any creativity. We felt blank. Normally, we collect a lot of experiences from touring around the world, exchanging cultures and seeing friends that you only see on tour, and spending time around and visiting new places. We didn’t feel ready to record a new album after the pandemic. It took us some time to focus and start feeling the right vibe. We toured a bit before and we rejoined a bit of what we had before.
Dead Rhetoric: So was there anything during that touring before the album that stuck with you and kind of helped with writing Sleepless Empire?
Ferro: Maybe the fact that before we started working on the new record, we worked on a remake of our classic record Comalies celebrating the 20th anniversary in 2022. So we went back and deconstructed the original to re-evaluate the arrangements. So listening to how we were doing things 20 years before, that helped and sort of unconsciously influenced some of the arrangements we have on the new record. So the record does sound different for sure. A lot of people who have heard it say that in some ways, it does resemble certain atmospheres from back in the day of Lacuna Coil. So maybe that influenced the process, but definitely the title and name of the record came from an observation of reality post-COVID.
It’s not specifically a critique, because we are living the same as the younger generation: always on the phone and always connected with the internet, social media, streaming services, etc. All of those things, we felt that society is a huge empire with all of these possibilities that you can reach very quickly. But on the other hand, it’s overwhelming for a lot of people. We are on the phone even at night, so we are sleepless in this huge empire right now. That was the main idea behind it. It’s not a concept album strictly, in that every song touches that topic, it’s more of an overall picture. When we normally start writing, we start with a title and an image. That really helps Marco [Coti Zelati], our bass player, who is our main songwriter, to start writing.
Dead Rhetoric: What else do you think defines Sleepless Empire as a Lacuna Coil album?
Ferro: I think there are mostly two kinds of bands, generally speaking. There are the types of bands that make their formula over and over, always great…like AC/DC, Iron Maiden, or even Disturbed. They have a formula that works really well and they make slight changes to it and it works great for them. There are other bands that need something a little bit different, to spice it up, or to contaminate somewhere else. We are more of that kind of band. Even though we don’t completely change every record. We change a little bit and introduce different influences we collect along the way, some are heavier and sometimes softer. We are open to be influenced by different things. This record is more dark because of those atmospheres from the past maybe. There’s a lot of raw energy I think, in some of the heaviest songs. We always have a couple of songs that are a little different, like “I Wish You Were Dead,” which is more melodic and easy going, with more sarcastic lyrics. Also songs like “Sleep Paralysis,” which is more of a slow burn and atmospheric song compared to the others. So I think that’s the main difference with previous records. It’s moving forward a little bit.
Dead Rhetoric: So what are the parts of Lacuna Coil that are going to come through, no matter the direction that inspiration comes from?
Ferro: I think there are three elements that describe our music. There’s the metal, for the heavy parts. There’s rock music for the big choruses and melodies. Then there is the dark. It’s more about the atmosphere and the way we make arrangements. I think those three elements play around in our music, no matter what. There’s also the duality of Cristina and my vocals. That’s part of the balance of the music, I think. So we have the two voices, Marco making the directions and the arrangements, it will always be Lacuna Coil. Sometimes it’s more heavy, sometimes it’s more rock, and sometimes more dark, but the same ingredients are there just balanced in a slightly different way. Those elements will always define us, and they have defined our last 10 albums.
It’s something we had the good fortune of being able to develop in the first three records, because we grew up in a world that was still giving bands the chance to do three records before they made some commercial success. You were not rushed to immediately release a record and become a big name. We were fortunate that in our era, you still had time to grow and develop, and to get away from your influences as a starting band – developing a more personal style.
Dead Rhetoric: I think the way that you summed up the parts that make up Lacuna Coil is very cool. Some bands are very specific, and I think your broader answer speaks to the fact that there are different elements in each album. You have wider parameters to play in.
Ferro: We try. We need to keep doing this, we need to be stimulated and to feel a certain freshness that sometimes we get from the younger bands. It’s true that they don’t have the same experiences that we have had, but they have an energy that we can’t have. That moment has passed for us, that we are the fresh new thing and very naive maybe, but we had the energy of people who are out to discover the world. It’s important for us to keep listening to the younger bands because we can take that energy from them, this freshness that we cannot have, because of time passing and collecting experiences and being more mature.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you feel that Lacuna Coil has allowed you to grow as a person?
Ferro: We have done a career that we never thought was possible when we first started, especially coming from Milan, Italy. It’s not really a rock and roll heaven [laughs]. There’s not much history with Italian rock or metal bands, singing in English, making international careers when we started in the ‘90s. There weren’t many examples to follow. In Germany, you have bands since the ‘80s that made rock history like Scorpions or Kreator or Rammstein. There are a lot of bands that made a name for themselves internationally. The same for Scandinavia, England, and America, obviously. Italy is more known for traditional/operatic singing or folkish stuff. So for us, to have a career like this has been beyond expectation.
For me personally, to get to travel the world and see places I only dreamed of. To see cultures, it allows you to grow as a person and understand that there are different traditions, ways of thinking, and philosophies. I still learn every time. Every time I go to Japan or China, for example, you see a very different culture than Italy. America is different but it is still sort of similar in a way. The same with South America, it’s mostly similar. Japan is an entirely different world. Especially the first time we went there in the early 2000s. There were very few people speaking in English, there were no signs in any Western traditional alphabet, only in traditional Japanese signs. So it was very different culturally. So you learn a lot. You learn your vision is very limited as you grow up, as much as it can be democratic and open, it’s different. So it’s great. I think the greatest gift is to know people around the world and to have friends all over the place.
There’s also the legacy you create with your songs. That’s more important than how many records you sell and how much money you make. Obviously everyone likes to make money, we aren’t against it [laughs]. But the legacy is more valuable after. When we are gone, the only thing left is our legacy and our exchange of energy with the people. That’s the greatest result and what fulfills you the most I think.
Dead Rhetoric: It’s almost 20 years since Karmacode. What do you remember about making that album?
Ferro: It was the first one after we really grew up as a band. Comalies was the one that really set the name of Lacuna Coil internationally, especially in North America. Radio and a lot of things came that we didn’t expect. That record went 100 bigger than any of the ones we had done before. It became the best selling record of the label at the time. It was a big change in our name and our possibilities for touring, recording, and budget. Karmacode was the first record after we achieved all of that step in our career. So there was a bit of pressure, especially from the outside, in order to go even further up the level with the singles and all that. So it was a lot of pressure, but we tried to not overthink the record too much.
On the other hand, it was also the first record where the digital was coming in. The digital world was coming. Napster was starting with downloads. Our first single from the record was “Our Truth,” and we released it in a ‘fake file’ online, where you would download it and it was actually white noise. It was an experiment we did to see how many people would download it, so we could understand how it was working. In one week we had like 3 million downloads. It was unbelievable. Then we really understood how the world was changing and how fast it could change. We were shifting into a new era of music business. So it was an important record for us. Not only did we become more aware of our possibilities as a band at that level, but we also understood where we were starting to go in the future.
Dead Rhetoric: You mentioned the time off touring during COVID. Then you jumped right back into it. How do you handle life on the road as you get older?
Ferro: We are still enjoying the touring side of things. But we try not to burn ourselves out. We have done 3-6 months on the road, touring America without going back to Europe. We have done that, because it was different times and we needed to build the name of the band. We don’t have to play every city in the world now. We have done that, so we try to have more of a balance with life at home versus life on the road. When albums come out, like now, we need to tour. It’s new. COVID made it even longer between tours, so we need to go to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, so it’s going to be a lot of touring this year. It’s an album release year. But we try to not burn ourselves out. We want to be able to enjoy it.
I think nowadays we appreciate the fact that we can go to a city in the world and people go out and see us. We appreciate it even more. When you are younger, it’s just another show and tour. You don’t stop and think, “wow, people in LA came to check us out and we are from Milan.” Now we appreciate it more, we can understand we have been doing this for 20-25 years and we can still do it. We can still sell out in LA or New York or Tokyo, and that’s amazing! We enjoy it even more with the passing of time. But we try to schedule it more reasonably.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you see different generations of fans at shows at this point?
Ferro: We have a lot of different generations at the shows, and different types of people as well. One thing we noticed, especially after COVID, is that there are people older than us coming to the show. Like, 60 and older. I asked them, since it’s usually people our age and younger, but there are regularly people there older [than us]. They said, during COVID they were at home and searching Spotify and it suggested other bands they might like, so they found us and they have money, and they might not be working as much. So they come to the show, and once the lights have turned off, they are just a part of a crowd. They aren’t that 65 year old guy, they can just be part of the crowd and scream and sing and move. They normally wouldn’t go to a rock bar and be with people 30 years younger, but at the show, the distance gets erased – it doesn’t matter if you are old or young, male or female, or whatever. You are just part of the crowd, so why not? They can do something just like anyone else.
Dead Rhetoric: Finally, what’s planned for the rest of 2025?
Ferro: Mostly touring. We just shot a video a few days ago that will come out around the time of the release, probably around the 11th or 12th of February. We are going to do a lot of touring this year because we need to promote the album, and there will be a lot of press and signings, things like that. But we also don’t want to stop our other collaborations. We also very nerdy and we have a lot of stuff with comics and board/video games, and movies. So there are a lot of collaborations for that as well. There are more surprises to come!
