Poppy undoubtedly flew under the radar of the heavy crowd for much of her early career. The YouTuber seemed quite far removed with her android shtick and early material. Then 2020’s I Disagree came in with it’s eclectic and chaotic approach with songs like “Concrete” and “Bite Your Teeth,” entering the heavy music space with no concern for musical boundaries. It was an impressive and unpredictable album that ping-ponged between modern metal, industrial, and pop with a unique flavor. While her follow-ups in Flux and Zig saw her move into alt rock and electro-pop, recent collaborations with Knocked Loose and Bad Omens seemed to hint at her moving back into heavier waters. With Negative Spaces, that turned out to be mostly true.
In typical Poppy fashion, there’s genre-blurring all over the place. It’s undoubtedly heavy, unified by the Jordan Fish production, but it’s rarely straight-forward. Opener “have you had enough?” begins with murky electronic elements and explodes into almost NIN-inspired industrial rhythms and grooves. It ultimately culminates with speaker-filling chugs and Poppy switching into full-on screams. In contrast, it’s followed up by early single “the cost of giving up,” with it’s melodic riffing and hook-filled chorus, leading up to another corrosive bout of downtuned riffing and scathing screams, sounding very much akin to what’s going around in modern metal and rock. That said, “they’re all around us” wastes no time getting right to the more brutal moments. Industrial-laced guitar riffing and screams get the blood pumping before a more serene chorus offers an excellent contrast. The first of three short transition tracks moves us into “crystallize,” a foray into more electronic and less heavy waters. More electropop than anything else, the pounding synths will drill their way into your skull upon first listen. “vidal” keeps up the pop elements and fuses it with more of a rock base, at times almost sounding like something from the early Avril Lavigne catalog.
With the middle of the album pushing a more electronic, pop-driven tone, “push go” bridges the gap sonically to swerve back towards heavier ground with more industrial buzzing, leading into the nu-metal grooving of “nothing” which swells with more dark electro elements bubbling below the surface until the screams pick back up. An absolutely soaring chorus offers a real bright spot for the entire album. Those familiar with her work on Knocked Loose’s “Suffocate” will be thrilled by “the center’s falling out,” which almost feels like the spiritual successor to that visceral, unrelenting track which features a crushing breakdown towards its finale. After the second transition cut, the title track flirts more with grunge than anything else, while “surviving on defiance” utilizes more melancholic notes and dark pulsating grooves, allowing for a sense of dreary resolution before “new way out” brings back more immediately catchy riffing and electronics to the forefront while the lyrics cling to more darker thoughts. The album ends on a brighter note though with “halo” offering a more positive outlook, with it’s catchy ballad-esque approach and gentle electronic beats that build up to culminate into arguably the album’s prettiest moment.
Negative Spaces is an album that likes to flirt with boundaries when it’s not smashing through them. Far from a ‘traditional’ metal release, but one that’s remarkably heavy in both it’s sound and intent. Poppy has always had a unique vision with her sound, and this album seems to culminate much of her expression and experimentation. Given her trajectory, it’s better not to guess where she’s heading in the future as she’s completely unattached to genre, but open-minded fans of heavy music are bound to find something worth celebrating with Negative Spaces.
It’s been almost 10 years since Iniquitous Savagery released their first assault of brutal death metal done in the purest of forms. While it didn’t pretend to change the game, one could attest to the fact that it very much followed the uncompromising rules of brutality. Ten years later, this sounds very much like it could be the logical follow-up. The difference is the idea that fewer and fewer acts are now going for this particular sound.
Being in the realm of those brutal death metal bands that make you want to curse yourself for having to type up a title like Edifice of Vicissitudes (or even look up the term vicissitudes for that matter), its easy to mark comparisons to older acts like Deeds of Flesh, Devourment, or Disgorge. You know, the most brutal of brutal. Ultra low gurgled vocals, a torrent of blastbeats that only relent to the dropping of massive breakdowns and grooves, and some absolutely brain-melting riffage. It’s a sound that’s almost like a time capsule of when it was most popular, and to their credit, Iniquitous Savagery very much nail it. At least a track like “Omnipotence Negates Self-Affliction” does its best to break away from the formula, even if it does rely on crushing grooves and frenetic high-speed blasts – it feels like there are some dynamic shifts here that keep it from getting too ‘same sound-y’ at the middle of the record. But regardless of that, unless you absolutely live for the most brutal of death metal, it’s going to weigh on you by the end of the record. That said, their dedication to the craft of the most devastating of brutal death metal is a testament to its authenticity.
Edifice of Vicissitudes is exactly what you’ve come to expect from brutal death metal. Punishing, uncompromising, visceral, and with just the slightest amount of technical stuff sprinkled in. Take it or leave it, but Iniquitous Savagery know exactly how to play to the strengths of the formula and squeeze out every ounce of heaviness.
Hot off of last year’s Time Will Take Us All, Entheos made a quick return with a new EP An End to Everything. Continuing their evolution as a band (who have been functioning as a two-piece), it’s another strong example of how they can take extreme metal elements and make it something that sounds unique and powerful. They don’t just stick to one thing, but incorporate a multitude of elements to make a more interesting yet still cohesive product. We spoke with vocalist Chaney Crabb about how the two work together, the benefits of having a more unique sound, experiences with social media and their KoperCrabb podcast, and even a bit of make-up talk in this expansive chat.
Dead Rhetoric: First off, congrats on your recent wedding! Going off of that, what’s it been like in terms of just working between Navene [Koperweis] and yourself over the years? Do you feel you can just push each other to the next level each time?
Chaney Crabb: Absolutely! I think we are really good at doing that, because we are honest with each other. It works really well in a music environment, being honest with each other. At the end of the day, we both just want what is best for the thing we are working on together. We both have strong artistic opinions on stuff. We push each other constantly. We both are good at taking criticism from the other person. It’s never harmful, it’s always constructive and I think that if you learn to work in that way with someone, it can be such a fruitful relationship. It has pushed us to write the best stuff we have written together. I’m really proud of it.
Dead Rhetoric: At one point, Entheos had more band members. It’s just basically the two of you at this point. Do you feel that lets you really explore things more completely?
Crabb: Yeah! Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved being in a band. I grew up being in full 4 or 5 person bands, and when we started this band, we had an idealistic image of what it could be with four people being democratic about everything. I think that naturally as things progressed, people didn’t tour anymore and had to leave, Navene and I became very obviously the two people at the head of the band. Navene is capable of writing everything on guitar and writing the music. I am capable of doing everything vocally. So we don’t really need to operate with more people.
Sometimes, when you do have that many people in a band, the artistic image becomes really convoluted. There might be one person in charge but they have to run things by five different people who are all different. Sometimes there is such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. Because our band is now stripped down to two people…Evan Brewer does play bass on our stuff but he doesn’t write our material. He doesn’t have a hand in writing the material – he just comes in and plays bass on it. Because it’s just the two of us, there’s nothing we don’t want. There’s nothing that we can’t fully stand behind. I have found that sometimes when you are working with a whole group of people, some of the stuff, you look at and say, “I don’t know why we did that.” But they wanted it, you know? Because of that, it’s a very pure band.
Dead Rhetoric: It does seem like the two of you have really honed in on what Entheos is, which means that it’s more uncompromising.
Crabb: Absolutely. I was kind of saying this, but over time it just eventually became obvious that it would be hard for other people to fully feel like they are putting their whole artistic, creative self into the band. When Navene and I come home from tour, we are still talking about the band all the time. We live together and we are together 24 hours a day. When other people go home, they are with their significant others. They are doing other shit. Their significant other doesn’t care what we do with the band.
So if you are another person in our band, you might feel unfulfilled, because Navene and I write very quickly. Navene is very prolific in the way he writes music. We were just talking about what we want to do for our next album is write like 50 songs and sift through those. Kind of like what a country or pop artist would do. I think it’s really hard for other people to keep up with that. Because of that, we don’t have a sense of unfulfilled creativity in our band, and I really enjoy that.
Dead Rhetoric: How did the As I Lay Dying tour go over? It seems like you were in a good position to win over new fans since it’s not a crowd you might not necessarily hit.
Crabb: Absolutely, it was like you are saying. A lot of times you go on tour and every single person there knows about you. Sometimes you go on a tour and there are a few people that know about you, but not really [overall]. We kind of had that experience on the As I Lay Dying tour. Because of that, it opened us up to a whole new crowd of people. To me, As I Lay Dying is a legacy metal act. They’ve been around for 25 years, they have hit records over a long span of time.
There’s a huge fanbase, and a bunch of fans who might not even be in tune with what’s going on in metal now. They are a more generalized metal audience. That was fucking incredible to go out and play our music in front of those people and gain a lot of new fans. Tim was having me come out and do a guest vocal on stage everything with As I Lay Dying. That really helped people find out about us. It was an incredible tour!
Dead Rhetoric: How do you feel that An End to Everything exemplifies where Entheos is at in 2024?
Crabb: I think that it perfectly encompasses what we wanted it to do. We wanted it to be an EP of singles. We did a concept record before this that ran together as a whole piece. Right now as a band, what we want to be doing is writing good songs. It’s a huge goal we have in writing an album right now that we will probably put out next year. That was the goal with this EP. We want to get better as songwriters. I think this EP is very much us doing that.
It really represents stepping into this place where we want to be really good songwriters and to be able to encompass all of the influences into one thing. I think this is a very good step in that direction. We are incorporating a lot more singing, rock and grunge and doom elements, along with the metal. More and more we are just becoming the band we want to be.
Dead Rhetoric: It’s interesting that you mention it, as there seems to be more of that shift. When you first started the band, there was more of a technical slant to it and it seems like the band has been blossoming this whole time. Do you feel that fans have stayed along for the ride, in that regard? I know it’s not always the case for some bands.
Crabb: Totally, I do. I don’t know why that has happened. I don’t know why people have stuck around for the ride. I see that happen all the time! Bands add singing and people are like, “Fuck this, I’m never listening to this band again!” For some reason, I think that we attracted a lot of people who have eclectic taste, from the beginning. We did have tech elements, but we never fully fit in with tech. We never fully fit in on a tour that we were on. That’s a good thing, I’m not mad about it. I like being a unique band. I think that, because of that, the people who were attracted to us in the first place are attracted to that kind of music and are attracted to bands that do that.
For me, my favorite bands are ones that do not easily get defined by one genre. They don’t stick to one thing. The coolest part about a band is seeing what they do over time and how they expand their sound. For some reason, we attracted fans who are also into that, and watching bands do that. It’s also because we never came out and were like, “We’re a tech death band” or “We’re a deathcore band.” We have always been weird…we are like a rock band, I don’t know what we are. We’re a metal band, just listen to us. We have been lucky to attract people that like the same thing.
Dead Rhetoric: It might be helpful that when you don’t fit on a tour, like the As I Lay Dying one, it makes it a lot easier to pull people in because you can go all over the place with different bands.
Crabb: I’ve noticed that the people we pull in, they are the kind of people we are talking about. They are in it for the long haul. They aren’t just interested in what is hot right now and sounding like that. They are music lovers and they love bands and live music, and hearing bands experiment. So I totally agree with that. Sticking out is a good thing.
Dead Rhetoric: You’ve shared a lot of personal information, particularly about your accident, and this EP is also a personal one. Do you find it challenging to be so forward with some of these things?
Crabb: I think when I was younger I did, yeah for sure. The older that I get, the more I think it’s important. I think people resonate with that stuff. I enjoy when people share personal information. It helps us all realize that we aren’t all really alone in this world, and a lot of people go through a lot of similar things.
When I was younger, I was more guarded. It’s probably why I don’t really resonate with the early lyrics of Entheos very much. I feel like I was trying to be someone who I really wasn’t. I was trying to do a more tech thing, and I don’t really give a shit about that stuff. I want personal lyrics, and I realized that over time. That I liked lyrics like that and wanted to resonate with the lyrics. So the older I get the less I give a shit. I’m only here for a certain amount of time. It’s whatever. I like putting that stuff out there now.
Dead Rhetoric: In the last year or two, there’s a bunch of stuff from Entheos in my social media feed, from playthroughs to one-takes to other things. Do you feel you’ve gotten a good grasp on how to use social media to your advantage as a band?
Crabb: I think I do, but social media changes so constantly. Every time I post one of those videos I’m like, “This is going to be the one that doesn’t go viral” or whatever [laughs]. I’m always expecting it to be whatever. Yesterday I had a good grasp on it, but today do I have a good grasp? I have no idea, but I’m along for the ride and I try to learn as much as possible. I do think social media has been a great tool in growing our band. I think it can be a great tool for a lot of people, and you don’t have to adhere to what everyone else is doing.
A lot of people, I think, think that you have to be this cringy type persona to have it help your band on the internet, but I don’t see it that way. I think if you just put out honest stuff that is you, people will gravitate towards that. Social media is so wild. It’s the wild west out there so I don’t know!
Dead Rhetoric: It’s something that a number of bands have talked about lately in some way or another. They mention the cringy bit, but I think it’s cool that you have found a way to make it work for yourself that feels genuine.
Crabb: Thank you! I’m surprised by that. I’m happy but tt’s surreal to me that it has taken off for me and my band. I did vocal one-takes 10 years ago and no one gave a shit back then. It’s not on the internet for me to think I was going to get a lot of exposure from it. It’s cool that it has worked out that way. Like you were saying, if you go into it more genuinely and don’t expect much out of it, it can be a great thing.
Dead Rhetoric: You and Navene have also been doing your own podcast for a while. What do you feel you’ve gained by doing the KoperCrabb podcast in terms of the scene or even how podcasting works?
Crabb: Oh my god, there has been so much gain. I don’t know – I feel like I am pretty up to date with what is going on with the scene, so it’s a way to talk about it. It’s been a cool way to just build a community, and build a stronger community around our band and talk about things that I don’t know if people really know, like what it means to be a touring musician and do this for a living. It’s cool to be able to peel back the curtain for some people. When you do that, it makes it seem easier for some people to achieve, if that makes sense.
When you are so withdrawn from something, and you only see artists out there getting their art in Decibel magazine or their album out there, you don’t really know. It doesn’t seem achievable. It seems so far from you. Like in the olden days, when people had to go to Hollywood to be famous as actors or actresses. As a midwesterner, that seems really far away. But when you peel back the curtain and say, talk about how I got here or how we got signed or how our band gets booked…all of those things. When you talk about that, it helps people see that it’s something they can achieve as well.
So it’s been cool to do that, and it’s been cool to just have conversations with our friends, who we sometimes only see for 5-10 minutes on tour and we never really have this extensive conversation about all of this stuff with them. It’s just like a whole new way to experience being in a band, from my side. It’s cool! Now we know our friends, and we can be friends with people who are fans of our band. It’s super sick!
Dead Rhetoric: It also makes it more meaningful for those people involved as well. You dig in and get the fans that are like, “they are kind of cool” and you lock them in.
Crabb: That happens to me all the time with comedy podcasts. I’m a huge fan of people who I don’t even think their comedy is that funny. It’s because of their podcast.
Dead Rhetoric: To go in a very different direction, in terms of the way your eye shadow goes and your eye gems, what has your evolution been with make-up. It almost seems like an element of your persona at this point.
Crabb: I have literally been wearing cat eye eyeliner since I was thirteen. It’s just always been the way that I have liked wearing make-up. Its like when you put make-up on and you are like, that’s how I want to present myself. That’s how I feel beautiful. So I guess it’s been an ever-evolving thing. I have gotten way better at doing my make-up over the years. With adding eye gems and stuff, it’s just shit that I see. With the eye gems, total shout out to my friend Sheena, because she had a certain kind of eye gem on and I was kinda vibing it and decided I was going to wear them now.
It’s a part of me. I don’t know if it’s a persona, but this is just Chaney. It’s how I go to the bar. This is how I went to my sister in law’s baby shower last weekend. So it’s me. It’s how I like to present myself. I really like to experiment with that stuff. I’m really into EDM culture, it’s really cool. When they go to festivals and stuff, it’s different than metal. They are really dressing the fuck up and being a part…I have gone to gay clubs since I was like 17 years old. That’s like, where I grew up. Everyone there is very bodacious and drag queens and it’s like glam is a part of the theme. All of that is very much a part of who I am as a person.
Dead Rhetoric: I kind of feel like metal could use a bit more of that, like a sparkle almost.
Crabb: I totally agree with that. I’m happy to be one of the people to bring it. It’s just something I have used, being so mystical. I think people are beautiful when they feel like they can express themselves in ways that are on their body. That’s an artistic representation of yourself. I always love when I see even older people, who want to do it up. They are glam! I think it represents a part of you that you might not be able to get across otherwise. This is who I am.
Dead Rhetoric: In my own full disclosure, coming out as transgender a few years back, I can completely get that sentiment.
Crabb: Now you can be yourself! This is who I fucking am! I love being able to be like, “This is who I am.” I feel like a lot of people lose that spark over time. They get inundated in the real world and think, “I don’t want to do that,” “I will look stupid like that,” and it’s like, this life is about being able to be the person that you are. Be who you want to be and do it unapologetically! That’s what I’m all about!
Dead Rhetoric: What do you hope for the metal scene as it moves forward?
Crabb: I hope that the metal scene moves away and embraces being unique. That it moves away from this homogenization that I see happening in subsects of metal right now. A lot of bands are chasing what another band is doing. A lot of bands don’t have any unique flavor to their thing. Full disclosure, Navene and I were listening, and I’m not going to say what subgenre it was, but we listened to like 20 bands in the same subgenre like two weeks ago and I couldn’t tell the bands apart. There was no standout thing where I was like, “Holy shit, this band is killing it in a different way!”
So I just want that to continue to be embraced. That we are all unique and that we are doing things differently than other people. That we don’t need to follow certain formulas to get views on TikTok or become big bands. There are a few fucking gems out there, and I was just talking about SeeYouSpaceCowboy earlier in a different interview. I think they are absolutely killing it. I wouldn’t even necessarily be drawn into the genre that they play but I just think they are amazing. I like unique bands and unique voices, and instrumentalists where it’s not all of their artistic ability being scrubbed out by quantization and production techniques to homogenize the bands. I want to see bands experimenting and enjoying being themselves.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s next for Entheos?
Crabb: We are going to be touring a lot next year. We have a tour that we will be announcing a tour soon that is going to be in the southern American states, places that I have never heard of, like McAllen, Texas. But I’m going there [laughs]. Stuff that we wouldn’t hit on a normal A or B market tour. So that, and like I said, we are going to start recording an album at the beginning of December. We are doing the podcast and keeping it rolling over here. We can’t stop, we are obsessed with making music!
A collaborative effort between George Lynch and vocalist Casandra Carson, Casandra’s Crossing is a new act that seems to straddle both retro and modern. Merging Lynch’s signature guitar sound and Carson’s soaring vocal work, its a hard rock album with plenty of appeal across the rock/metal spectrum. We spoke with Carson about how this project came to be, balancing time between projects and her main band Paralandra, as well as her thoughts on the hard rock scene moving forward.
Dead Rhetoric: Where did the idea for this collaboration between the two of you stem from?
Casandra Carson: It was totally random. It all kind of came from when I was in Florida last October. My boyfriend, who plays bass for Lynch Mob, and I went to a show and George asked me if I wanted to sing “Street Fighting Man” and I had done it once before in 2019, so I said sure, let’s do it. So I sang it with them that night and it was really fun. After the show, I was driving George back to the hotel from the venue and we were talking about how much fun we had performing with each other and George really enjoyed my energy on stage and loved my voice.
So I told him that next time we need to do some Dirty Shirley and that would be really cool. He was surprised I knew it, and I was like, “yeah, Dino Jelusick is like my favorite singer.” He paused and said that it was funny that I mentioned that because he was planning to go into the studio the following week to record the second Dirty Shirley record. Dino was not going to be singing on it, because he had parted ways with Frontiers. So they were looking for a singer. So he said I should do it. He asked if I wanted to sing on the album, so I said “alright, sure!” I was not expecting it by any means. But two weeks later, I had a full album in my email from George and I immediately started working on lyrics and melodies. Here we are a year later and the album is coming out. It’s kind of crazy!
Dead Rhetoric: So is this a full-time band or more of a studio piece? Where does Cassandra’s Crossing really lie?
Carson: It’s more of a studio thing. George has so many projects that he does. It was supposed to be Dirty Shirley part two. He was already going to be making the record. There’s no touring with that band as it is. I don’t think we will probably tour. It’s more of a studio thing. I would love to do more albums. Paralandra and Lynch Mob are doing shows together in the beginning of next year, so I’m kind of hoping we can do some songs live. We’ll see. I know he is also trying to retire. The poor guy.
Dead Rhetoric: I know Frontiers does a lot of the ‘put a few people together and make an album’ kind of things.
Carson: Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. I don’t know what will come from it. But I’m happy to be here [laughs].
Dead Rhetoric: How do you describe Garden of Earthly Delights as your debut to someone just passing by?
Carson: It’s a bluesy rock record but it has a lot of familiar sounds. A lot of people have compared it to the early Dokken and Lynch Mob type stuff. It’s very much in that heavy metal and rock, bluesy rock vein. But also with a kind of a modern touch.
Dead Rhetoric: It’s nice that it can kind of flirt between those. Having an old school sound but with a modern finish on it.
Carson: Exactly! It sounds clean and pristine but it’s very obviously George Lynch playing guitar. It doesn’t sound like his other works, it’s unique but it has that signature sound of his. So it blends the past with the present.
Dead Rhetoric: I know you have done things outside of Paralandra too. What would be your dream collaboration if you could just pull in people together and make music?
Carson: The first person that pops in my head is Miles Kennedy. I would love to collaborate with that man. It would be so cool! He’s been my hero since I was 11. That would be crazy.
Dead Rhetoric: Paralandra, L.I.F.E. project, Cassandra’s Crossing – how do you market time to each?
Carson: Paralandra is my full-time job, so I spend the majority of my time touring and on the road with that. Plus everybody is located in the same place [laughs], so it’s easier to get together. As L.I.F.E. Project stuff comes up, I’m just kind of writing behind the scenes anyways, whether it’s for Paralandra or L.I.F.E. Project, or just little ditties I am singing into my phone when they come to me. It’s always on.
I just have my schedule laid out and fill in the blanks as needed. Whenever Cassandra’s Crossing came up, all of a sudden every ounce of my free time was delegated to writing music. It always changes but I love that about being a musician since I don’t do the same thing every day. It keeps it interesting.
Dead Rhetoric: In that regard in being a musician, what inspires you about the hard rock/metal scene?
Carson: My dad raised me on all the ‘80s guitar gods so I just love that music. Queensryche Operation Mindcrime was my soundtrack to middle school. Alter Bridge was entering my life at the same time. Of course, Eddie Van Halen was almost a family member in our household for how beloved he was. I was always around that type of music and I have really enjoyed my dad’s taste in music in rock and all those areas. I just of just followed suit.
Dead Rhetoric: At this point, that ‘80s sound has almost taken off again with the retro groups, how do you feel about that?
Carson: I love it, to be honest. I am not really into modern music or the digital sound of bands nowadays. I prefer that raw performance you used to get from older music. You listen to the recordings and it was almost like being at the show. I prefer that. There’s something human and more relatable about it. I love that all these bands are coming back around. They are all out touring and it’s like a resurgence.
Dead Rhetoric: You’ve been going with Paralandra for over a decade, and you had a new album this year. What are the goals of where you want it to go at this point?
Carson: My ultimate goal with Paralandra was always to become a full-time musician. To be able to pay my bills and sustain myself with music. That has been the goal and I transitioned to full-time musician in 2019, so I’m just riding that train and it’s a lot of hard work. But the shows keep getting better. We are making more money and gaining a larger fanbase. It’s a lot of work since we are independent and we do everything ourselves, but it’s really rewarding to have everything pay off and be able to do this because I love it. I have been able to succeed!
Dead Rhetoric: What are the challenges with getting yourself out there in known, especially post-COVID?
Carson: It’s hard. It’s so oversaturated with social media. Now anyone and everyone can record at home. Everyone has a band. There’s way more out there than there has ever been. It does make it difficult to sift through, but how do I deal with it? I stay active and post fun things that I enjoy. People will follow you or not, the only thing I can do is be authentic. People can enjoy the journey or not [laughs].
Dead Rhetoric: In the press sheet you were labeled as the “Next singing sensation,” how did you feel about that?
Carson: I didn’t write that, so it feels like, “Wow!” It’s an honor [laughs]. Hopefully I live up to all of the press.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you want to see from the hard rock scene, moving forward?
Carson: I want to see people moving away from tracks, and lots of members in their band playing multiple instruments. I want to see people really bring back having horns or something. There’s too much digitized stuff out there, and it makes it sound the same. I want people to embrace other instruments and having fun with their live show.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you establish yourself as a vocalist?
Carson: It’s a weird question, because I never really saw myself as a vocalist. I was always a guitar player. Then I had to sing [laughs]. Now I love it and its so much fun. I guess when I sing, i try to do what I want to hear. I’m not trying to sound like anyone in particular, but look at what the song needs, and whatever comes out comes out. People seem to like it, so that’s great!
Dead Rhetoric: So are there any particular challenges with doing both guitar and vocals when playing live?
Carson: There are so many riffs that I have to put on autopilot. I don’t have to focus on what my fingers are doing, I just focus on singing. I’m making sure I am breathing, that’s a big thing. But I love playing guitar, so it’s really fun for me and it’s a challenge. It’s something I enjoy, to play something difficult or technical, and be able to sing on top of it. It’s like doing gymnastics or something.
Dead Rhetoric: What are your plans for 2025?
Carson: Paralandra will be on the road throughout the rest of the year. We are going on tour with Tantric and Scotty Austin, the former singer of Saving Abel. We are going all over the states. We have a few headlining shows sprinkled in there, and we will be opening for Lynch Mob once in November. After that, we will be touring with Lynch Mob on the rest of their Final Ride tour in January to March of next year.
So we will be on the road a lot. In the meantime, I’m also in the studio. I was just in there a few weeks ago working on the next L.I.F.E. project release. I’ll be back to work on it some more in December. I might do some guest vocals on other projects. I’m staying busy out here, there’s always something going on!
Experience speaks volumes – especially when the membership contains musicians with multiple decades of playing in the metal realm. Such is the case for Lurking Terror – an international outfit with three members best known for their work in the original incarnation of Sadistic Intent as well as rhythm guitarist Noel Bello from Mexico and bassist Lorenzo Kemp. Starting in 2021, they released a demo and a few singles before signing to M-Theory Audio to issue this debut five-song EP A World in Darkness. You can expect a visceral explosion of death metal with hints of grindcore in the mix – taking the best from North American and Swedish influences out of the 90s to pummel the soundscape into oblivion.
There’s this edge of anticipation as the five-piece shift between savage blasting moments one minute into crushing, doom-like death passages the next – where the dual guitar twists build momentum into huge headbanging hooks which whip audiences into frantic cyclones. Intense riffing, relentless, heads down tempo bashing as well as the guttural growls keep the pace brisk without any extraneous parts to lose interest. So much so that when there is a controlled passage or guitar bend, you get the feeling of enjoying classic Entombed next to Autopsy, while the blitzkrieg guitar leads cut through like early Napalm Death or Slayer. The drum shuffle from Joel Marquez that opens “End of Days” has a swing element to it before the next sequence sends the track through death blast nirvana, vocalist Enrique Chavez executing his rhythmic, deadly delivery to lurk ominous next to the musical proceedings. Swarms of activity funnel into this aural vortex of down-tuned guitars, while the despair crawls into every crevice – allowing “Venomous” and “This Is War” to cement themselves as highlights.
At 16 minutes in length, A World in Darkness sets the stage for Lurking Terror to quickly assault the listeners as they leave the field in anticipation for what they’ll release next down the line. If you love old school death metal of the early 90s variety, make no mistake in grabbing this.
Ever on the conquest to fry extreme metal fans’ collective minds, the unique but always decidedly heavy sound of Defeated Sanity is one that comes with some anticipation and reverence. It’s rare that a band can make you want to have your head explode with bouts of technicality, be bludgeoned by sheer death metal riffage, and oddly want to dance a little bit of a jig during a massive breakdown. But such are the waters of Defeated Sanity, and Chronicles of Lunacy feels like there has been no relent from that seeming goal.
Chronicles of Lunacy is a lot to take in. But it comes in layers if you return to it. At first, there’s the uncompromising brutal death metal flavor that’s meant to overwhelm the senses and stir up whirlwinds of sonic chaos, just as opener “Amputationsdrang” effectively does. A battering of drums and guttural vocals cement the sheer abrasion factor. But one only needs to look at the technical bass playing and all out assault of intricate riffing on “Condemned to Vascular Famine” to see just how varied they can make their sound while keeping it intensely brutal overall, particularly as said track later takes in some mammoth sized grooves that are oddly uplifting in tone. A song like “Extrinsically Enraged” begins with some almost hook-y galloping riffs, to add to a factor that makes Defeated Sanity far more memorable than their peers when it comes to melding brutality, technicality, and dare it be said, some actual melodies. One thing is for sure, it’s a throttling assault when you hear a song like “Accelerating the Rot,” and you can get lost in it’s urgent grooves and riffing, helping of technical musicianship, and sheer fun factor.
Defeated Sanity continue to defend their title as a group that effortlessly blends elements from all across the death metal board and merge them into a cohesive and memorable beast. Chronicles of Lunacy is ferociously savage, but keeps the intelligence level high without making it sound pretentious or unnatural, and even sprinkling in enough melody so that it’s also not completely unapproachable. It’s a winning formula for a sound that’s uncompromisingly extreme.
When it comes to bluesy melodic hard rock with epic atmosphere and stunning hooks/melodies, Alex Beyrodt’s Voodoo Circle deserves accolades for keeping this style alive in the current scene. It’s never easy to take tried and true influences from the 70s and 80s to develop new, creative songwriting that can stand next to the classics – but on their latest outing Hail to the King, visions of Rainbow, Deep Purple, Whitesnake and the mighty Led Zeppelin will appear in spades. We got the chance to talk to guitarist Alex Beyrodt about the modern feel to the new record, some insight to his guitar choices and best times to develop material, memories around ex-Rainbow keyboardist Tony Carey that involved old songs re-recorded for this effort, thoughts on Spotify, his bucket list items he still wants to achieve, the importance of travel, and future plans including a new outfit with some of his ex-Primal Fear bandmates.
Dead Rhetoric: Hail to the King is the latest studio record for Voodoo Circle – the seventh in the band’s career. You mention in the bio background information that your aim is to bring your classic influences regarding Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Led Zeppelin and Rainbow to translate the material into a modern context. How do you feel this record achieves this in terms of the songwriting, tones, production, and performances?
Alex Beyrodt: Thanks for the question! I think it’s our most modern album so far. It has different influences, production-wise. Song-wise it’s still the same formula – Whitesnake, Deep Purple, and Rainbow having a baby, with a little bit of Led Zeppelin. This time I tried to have a different approach on the production and make it sound a little bit more modern, if that is possible.
Dead Rhetoric: Is that the biggest challenge – because of the tools that are available to you, to try to balance a classic sound with the modern, digital tools at your disposal?
Beyrodt: Yes. Here is my studio, nowadays you have so many possibilities. I have the rooms in my studio – the recording room that is similar to Sound City Studio in Los Angeles. I have this room in my computer, and I can play guitar through that room. For example. I have so many plug-ins, software programs, amplifiers, it’s amazing what you can do. I always try to find, when I write the song and record it for myself, I try to come up with a vintage drum sound, a vintage guitar sound, and then during the real production a process starts, a dynamic where the song goes production-wise in a different direction. I try different amplifiers, less gain, more gain. And then at the end, it is what it is (laughs). That’s the most fun part – the dynamic process. The songs have eight layers of guitars – you probably wouldn’t hear it, but they are there. Even if you don’t hear them directly, they are there.
Dead Rhetoric: Is it an easy or difficult process to pick which guitars you are going to use for each song?
Beyrodt: Let the song choose the guitar. In the past, I always tried to play the guitar I like, but that changed. I’m now older and more mature. I give the song the guitar it deserves, and it is asking for. There also needs to be a little bit of trying things out. Not every Les Paul sounds the same. There are some that are big and fat, there are other models that sound a little bit thinner. Sometimes with the Strats and different plug-ins and amplifiers – sometimes I spend just one week on a five second piece of music, just to find the right feel. But that’s the most fun part, actually.
Dead Rhetoric: You were able to work with former Rainbow keyboardist Tony Carey as well in a songwriting and performance capacity for two songs on the record. What was it like working with this legend for this material, any special stories come to mind during your time spent with him?
Beyrodt: That’s thirty years ago, I think. It was in the beginning of the 90s – maybe 1994. Holy crap – I was a very young man. I was at Tony’s home, in his studio in his basement in Bavaria, Germany. I couldn’t believe it – Rainbow – Live on Stage is my go-to an island album. If I had to pick one album, it would be that one. He played on that one. Somehow, I ended up in his studio, ending up writing songs for a Sinner record. I remember sitting behind the mixing desk and Tony is in the recording room, I looked through the window and he’s shaking the organ, doing it right like it’s supposed to be with the Hammonds. I’m in heaven. We recorded the songs – they had been released in Japan as bonus tracks.
I always thought those two songs didn’t fit the band Sinner so much. Sinner was more about the Thin Lizzy influence, those two songs “Billy’s Song” and “All For One” have the Rainbow influence. I said to myself, one day I’m going to re-record them. Two years ago, when coronavirus was over and the world started getting real again, I was standing in line boarding for an airplane and Tony is right in front of me, by chance. This is unbelievable. He turned around, looked at me, and said, Alex? (laughs). He remembers my name. I told him that I was thinking about re-recording the songs in the future, we had a chat, and everything was cool. Good memories. Somehow it closed a circle by releasing these two songs.
Dead Rhetoric: What songs do you believe came easiest to you for this record – and was there a specific song or two that maybe took on the greatest transformation from the initial ideas/ demo stage to what we hear on the final representation for this album?
Beyrodt: I think the easiest song was writing-wise “Let It Rock”. That one came easy. “Black Country” on the other side took me awhile. I experimented with so many different sounds on the guitar. Another one that came out easy was “On the Edge”. “The Sound of the Eagles” – I’m looking in my computer here. That also came out easily. The most difficult one was “Strangers in the Night”. That’s a real heavy and fast song, but I had problems putting the parts together so that they would make sense. I remember the song was cut even after the first mix; I decided to cut more parts out. That was a pain in the ass.
Dead Rhetoric: In regard to “Black Country”, were you aware of David’s background as a miner’s son that he talks about in the lyrics for this effort?
Beyrodt: Absolutely, yes. And this is also… his father died in a horrible car accident when David was 14 or 15. I grew up in an area where coal mining is what I grew up with. All my friends started working in the coal mines when they were 16 or 17. I was lucky – I went to another school. They all went down in the ground, digging coal. So, there was already a connection between David’s history and my history. It was the perfect topic for this song, and the vibe of this song that had a Led Zeppelin feel. I think it’s a great mixture and a great tribute to that area and time.
Dead Rhetoric: When it comes to your creative process and execution on guitar, do you find there needs to be a specific atmosphere, mood, or circumstances around you to deliver the best efforts and parts from you? In other words, do you know when the well of inspiration strikes best for you – or does it vary depending on the day?
Beyrodt: I’m a morning guy when it comes to writing songs. I’m the best at 10 o’clock in the morning, I go to my studio, and you release me at 7 in the evening. But not always – there are also days when I go to the studio and I start trying to find something, and then sometimes just nothing happens. I feel like I’m a beginner, when I can’t even play guitar. This happens to all of us – to so many guitar players. When the mood is right, I’m really fast. I’m a morning guy. If I had to write a song right now at 9:15 in the evening here in Germany, it’s not my cup of tea. I want to watch Netflix, have a glass of wine, and go to bed (laughs).
Dead Rhetoric: How did the process go to pick out the singles for this record?
Beyrodt: I pick the singles, but it’s always a pain in the ass. Because you like every song. Every song, but this part is so great, but this beginning is so great, this chorus. In the end, it’s all twelve songs. This time I tried to come up with a mix in groove and tempo, to give an overview of the album.
Dead Rhetoric: Where do you see the state of the music industry, especially in the fields of hard rock and heavy metal currently? What excites you about the scene, and what changes (if any) would you like to make or implement for the greater good of all parties involved?
Beyrodt: Have Spotify pay their artists an amount of money which is fair. That’s the biggest problem in the whole business and music scene. Not only with Spotify, but they are the leaders. It’s just robbery, nothing else. It’s very sad, and there’s nothing that I can do about it. It takes away so much, the enthusiasm and willingness to continue working in this business. Once you are at a certain age – and I’m going to turn 60 this year. Actually, next month – holy hell! I’m doing this all my life, and I’ve seen things going down. In my early days, you were selling singles and albums. Then the CD, the MP3, and Spotify, and it’s disappeared. In Germany, if you sell 2,000 albums now, you are number one. Can you imagine? In the past you had to sell 250,000 in one week to be number one. And 500,000 to get platinum, and it was even more in the United States.
If you are in the music scene or business, you shouldn’t be here for the money – because there is no money to be made anymore. It’s all about if you like being on stage, and if you like doing this for the music. Not for the money – I never did this for the money. Money was always an issue as a musician. I always did this for the music and for myself, and for the fans. I still love doing this, I still love being on stage, and I still love touring, the whole lifestyle. God gave me a talent, and if he wants me to give people something of myself, that’s what I’m trying to do.
Dead Rhetoric: As you close in on your 60th birthday, what sort of bucket list items or goals do you set forth and want to achieve in this part of your musical career?
Beyrodt: There’s only one thing which has never happened that I’ve always wanted to do. Play on stage with David Coverdale. I was on stage with Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, those two are already great. David would be another one. I’ve played with Alice Cooper, Paul Rodgers, I know you know my history. What I would like to do is go to a studio with my dream musicians, a dream band. For example – Tony Franklin on bass, Jason Bonham on drums, those kinds of guys. Go to a studio for six weeks, it doesn’t matter how much it costs and see what happens. That’s on my bucket list, but probably won’t happen (laughs).
Dead Rhetoric: What are your thoughts on the younger guitarists of the past decade or so compared to the generation of guitar players you were a part of growing up? Where do you see the major differences as far as technique, styles, or business abilities?
Beyrodt: They are so good. Their technique is so good, it’s unbelievable. It’s amazing how good those kids can play. They are doing things I could never imagine. I would never be able to do what they can do. What I’m sometimes missing is an aura onstage – charisma. They are so focused on their technique; they are not playing a show. They are playing a guitar clinic – which is very, very good – but not entertaining. I always say, the eyes are listening too. Not only the ears. If you are on a stage, you should entertain people, make a show. That’s something I sometimes miss. This year, during the festival season when I played so many festivals, I saw a lot of great young guitar players.
Dead Rhetoric: You were able to play the festival season this year – did it feel like the live concert/festival market is back on track after the down years due to the pandemic?
Beyrodt: No, it’s not. Especially not for smaller bands. For bigger bands, everything is cool. At the festivals, everything is working fine. For smaller bands, for instance Voodoo Circle, it’s a problem. There are so many bands on tour, so many big bands. You have Iron Maiden, The Scorpions, then a middle tier of bands, and you have all these smaller bands. If you are in the underground, there are thousands of bands. You could go see a show every day in every major city. That’s a problem. The people have other forms of entertainment, Netflix at home, people can be lazy. It’s not back on track, maybe it’s getting there.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you view the state of the world currently? What do you think the average person needs to spend more time, energy, and resources on to make things safer and healthier for humanity?
Beyrodt: Traveling. I think the state of the world right now is really bad. Everybody thinks that. If everyone would travel the world, like I did, all my life they would experience different cultures, meet different people. Get the experience so you understand each other. Traveling made me another man, a different man, different thinking. Listening to Journey as well. That’s my concept to hear the world. My favorite Journey album is Frontiers.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on your schedule over the next twelve months for activities related to Voodoo Circle or any of your other bands, projects, etc.?
Beyrodt: I’m going to tour with Voodoo Circle in November. I will be on tour with Rock Meets Classic next April. We are working on a new album with the new band from the former Primal Fear guys. We are writing amazing songs. There are other things in the pipeline I can’t talk about right now, but that will be at the end of next year. I have enough to do, it’s not a boring time. The new band – we are trying to be a little bit more modern. We are trying to come up with a good mix between Five Finger Death Punch and Primal Fear (laughs), for an example. Let’s see what’s going to happen.
Evolving from a solo project by ex-Tad Morose guitarist Kenneth Jonsson into a full-fledged band, Starchaser released their self-titled debut album in 2022. A potent set of material within the melodic heavy metal hemisphere, these musicians set to work right away on the follow-up sophomore platter – which expands upon the abilities of the quintet through Into the Great Unknown. Once establishing a sound, the key on future efforts is to balance out expectations while fulfilling creative desires as musicians, and that’s definitely present throughout this record.
The production values and tones possess a deeper, heavier presence at times to provide more weightiness, especially when looking at the guitar riffs of Kenneth. His driving nature to specific rhythms along with catchy, supplementary touches allows “Battalion of Heroes” and “Under the Same Sky” to become instant favorites. Many keyboard choices from Kay Backlund swirl in this cyber/EDM-oriented atmosphere next to his bright, main chord duties – “One by One” illustrating his sophistication floating in and around the main musical components favorably. The vocal lines shimmer in this AOR meets melodic hard rock/metal kaleidoscope – Ulrich Carlsson delivering verses plus choruses with mature resonance, encompassing elements of Joey Tempest, Mike Reno, and Nils Molin (Dynazty/Amaranthe) in his abilities in the brighter “One by One” as well as poignant, bluesy groove-oriented “War Is a Bad Place For a Good Man”.
The smaller touches contain bigger payoffs when looking at the overall approach present from Starchaser. Drummer Johan Kullberg for instance knows how to throw down exciting fills that never overstep the major musical components – pushing the title track and older Savatage-esque “The Broken Empire” into future classic territory. Servicing the song’s needs is paramount. You’ll hear heroic lead breaks throughout, mostly guitar-driven with the occasional fleet of finger ivory fury, but the writing tends to lean in favor of focused, catchy melodies or musical hooks, accentuating the feel for quick retention to rumble in the brain/body matter months to years later.
More thunderous that the debut, Into the Great Unknown incorporates aspects of traditional metal, melodic metal, and 70s/80s influences to make Starchaser a great catch for those who love the Tony Martin-era of Black Sabbath, early Europe, Deep Purple, and comfortable Scandinavian touches. If you want something very down to earth to get fists waving high or toes tapping, here is another strong effort to appease your wishes.
Sometimes a really cool find just falls into your lap. Such is the case with French band Apocryphal and their new album Facing the End. Now admittedly I knew nothing about the group, but when pressing play, these ears perked right up. This was largely due to the powerhouse vocals of legendary Soilwork frontman, Björn ‘Speed’ Strid, who is featured on all tracks on the record. This scribe has always loved his vocals, always will. “All Is Empty” is and was 100% the clear-cut favorite and that feeling gets stronger with each listen.
The melodic death metal train keeps on rolling with “He Forgot You” and this number features some fierce guitar melodies thanks to the duo of Didier Maurice and Sylvain Champenois. Disc opener “Smells Like the End of the World” shows a band on a bludgeoning mission. Meanwhile, “It Wasn’t So Complicated” takes the heavy and cranks it up a notch, Sébastien Bazille (bass) and Stéphane Maurice (drums) going full bore hell bent on some chest-thumping grooves. “Plague Doctor” is a decidedly dark number that takes you on a seven-minute journey to metal greatness.
“My Hero Inside” is arguably the heaviest track on a disc full of them. One thing’s for sure, though, this was my other favorite no question. With just the right combination of melody and punch there’s no way not to love this tune. More thundering drum rhythms adorn “Just Behind” and the same holds true for “Swallow My Lies,” Strid singing and screaming his ass off like a man possessed. Meanwhile “Taste My Hate” takes the gauntlet thrown down by the last song and runs with it. Another favorite for sure!
The CD closes with a bonus track “From Depths” and it’s a pretty heavy tune. As I said earlier, I knew nothing about the group going in, but this was definitely a welcome find. Apocryphal’s Facing the End comes highly recommended from yours truly.
Standout Tracks: “From Depths”, “Taste My Hate”, “All Is Empty”, “He Forgot You”, “Swallow My Lies”.
