…year. We have a European tour in February 2019. Perhaps we are doing a South or Central American tour by the end of next year, but it’s just speculation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bhPcrPLyKo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk7McEMgXIU Obscura on Facebook…
…Körtgen: Currently we are already working on new songs for an upcoming album and we want to play some gigs in late 2018, I hope this works and we can present our then-not-so-new album to a broad fanbase. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9LnQmcH3W0 Fragments of Unbecoming on Facebook…
…heap knock-off. And like C.O.C., there’s more than meets the eye with Orange Goblin. On The Wolf Bites Back, the Brits provide more substance and style than any Johnny-come-lately ever could. https://youtu.be/VToPVX_yub4 https://youtu.be/ert8eMBQnNU Orange Goblin on Facebook…
…act that this would be too long for an album. Perhaps we should take away 2-3 songs- and then we couldn’t decide which songs we wanted to take away. The record company thought this was going to be too long- especially when it comes to putting this out on vinyl, it’s too many songs to have on one album. It needed to be a double album, and that’s very expensive. They came back to us and decided it was going to be double vinyl, because the songs are…
…r a trio of We Are the Others cuts and “Don’t Let Go.” A fun and very crowd-approved set (as noted above) that is bound to make fans hope that the band will be back over here very soon with true headliner status (at least as soon as their next release is completed). Then of course came the headliners in Kamelot, arriving nicely on stage right around 9PM (again, quite solid for a weeknight). Supporting their recently released The Shadow Theory, of…
…to do whatever we wanted to do. We had a deadline, and we did things upside-down and topsy-turvy. We did all of the album photo shoots before we had written any music. That was to try to force us into work [laughs]. We started and we just didn’t stop. Six months of solid work. I was getting up at 4 o’clock in the morning and writing string parts out in my underpants – that sort of thing [laughs]. It was intense but it was exhilarating. We knew exa…
…w everyone is a guitar god nowadays. You can go on YouTube and see these 14-year-olds who play extremely complex compositions and are geniuses on their instruments. Dead Rhetoric: Do you get jealous of the fact that these younger people have so much more access to knowledge and information through the internet to advance faster and further than when you were developing your craft? Vowden: Yes, I do. You only have to go on YouTube and you have acce…
…r – go back and listen to their first albums now. They have evolved over 15-20-25 years to become as good as they are now, and I love that approach. Dead Rhetoric: What do you feel separates Phantom Elite from other symphonic metal acts? La Torraca: I think it’s that we never really aimed to fit a specific niche. It was never like, “Ok, let’s be a me-too band.” I’m not really glorifying that, but it just sort of happened that every member of the b…
…into what should surely be an even more successful era to come. But for now, consider Sign of the Dragonhead as 2018’s first must-have metal release. Read the entire review HERE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFc_05xzftw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETpRTh5Nxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reTG0JJdG5Q Leaves’ Eyes on Facebook…
…st that we ever dealt with this promoter. We gave him $700 as a bunch of 17-year-old kids, and he said we still owed him money. Dead Rhetoric: What types of practices have you learned through the years that maybe you can impart on others to escape from? King: That’s the thing. There were multiple shows where we had to give promoters money to play. I don’t know if we hadn’t done that if we wouldn’t have gotten to this point. Burke: You should never…
…of the coolest shows we’ve ever played. The room was packed, it was a sold-out show- and it was a benefit, which in my mind I wish we could play benefits all the time. In reality, the money that we make at shows just goes back into the band to put us on tour, make albums, and make merchandise. I wish we could play benefits all the time, because so many people need the money. The bands were all great, the promoter and the organizer Bill Peters is…
…ay has helped, and Sign of the Dragonhead has it in spades. The already fan-tested and approved “Fires in the North” as well as the title track showcase the band’s particular brand of symphonic Viking metal, with their combo of heavy riffing and soaring choruses. But despite their ability to really condense things down to their essence on this album, they pull out all the stops on the grand and epic finale of “Waves of Euphoria,” where choirs, orc…
…e think it has more of an emotional impact, and resonates with people. Hand-made, human-played music. I think with this album, we were able to bring it to a new level with the songs. I think that’s the biggest impact – we have the identity and the songs. I don’t know another band that has a song like “Waves of Euphoria” and “Riders of the Wind” with “Sign of the Dragonhead.” I think we have found our own identity. Dead Rhetoric: Between having Eli…
…– October 2017 Location – Hungary Style – Progressive metal We at DR fully approved of Dreamgrave’s last full-length, Presentiment, and their latest 3-song EP Monuments sits just as strong. The eclectic act fuses together progressive, jazz, and classical into their metallic slurry, alongside more extreme elements. Acoustic moments, brutal heaviness, progressive melodies, excellent operatic vocals, and more find their way into the 11-minute “The Pa…
…e road!” But we are looking, hopefully we’ll find a new agent soon. We’ve been trying to figure stuff out. Everything seems to be picking up and working out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YS_QVs7W2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJgtZzIbmT4 Threat Signal on Facebook…
…e’s this song [makes up-and-down motion] up and down with the head and side-to-side. [Laughs]. Dead Rhetoric: If I told you in 1997 that you’d last another 20 years and be even more successful, what would you have said? Ellsworth: I would have given you one of those patented laughs I have. “Thanks a lot, kid!” [Laughs] It’s 20 years now…there was never a long-term plan. We would plan years. We would plan a series of activities we would do to get t…
…e extreme metal. Moreover, there’s this delicate balance struck between the band’s brutal forays that were so prominent circa 2001 and their subsequent Earache years, showing the Brits remain almost an can-do-it-all extreme metal band. In what should be one of the most resoundingly-approved reunions of late, Akercocke appear to not have lost a step, but rather gained a couple during their time off. And it’s like this: When assembly line and cookie…
…at it was 10 years ago or 15 years ago, there’s a huge difference. I get it- it’s a cheap way for the label to promote, I think that actually given what we’ve had to work with, the artwork on this entire album is amazing- which lends itself to make some pretty cool lyric videos. With the budgets that the label is willing to stay to- it’s not even up to us what they are willing to do on that. We can push and push but at the end of the day, that’s j…
…w years within the band when you were coming into it – do you feel the line-up is stable? Boyer: Yeah, I guess I can say that. Everyone who is in the band right now, we are here to stay. We are really hard working people, and we are team-workers. So we don’t want to let go of anyone. I don’t know if you heard because we didn’t make a big deal on Facebook, but our bassist Eddie [Levitsky] just left the band. It was a few months back, but his work o…
…one song that kind of stood out was “Fucked with an Anchor.” With the sing-a-long chorus, do you think that’s going to be one that you push when you start going out on tour again? Bowes: Yeah, that is definitely going to be in the live set. We’ve done a sort-of music video, using a bunch of studio footage that is going to be released on the same day as the album. That’s essentially going to be the third single. That song is going to make people f…
…th the emphasis on grooves. The one sticking point is that as you continue to move through the album, some of the tracks start to feel too similar and it loses some of its energy. Halls of the Damned blends melody and aggression in a way that is thoroughly death metal approved. While some of it may blur towards the end, it’s a great starting point and it’s nice to see a band that’s focused more on ‘the song’ than trying to shoehorn themselves into…
…t compared to the other. I’ve bought certain thrash and death metal records- meaning actual vinyl records- that just sound like absolute garbage on vinyl. I learned a long time ago from working with various engineers and producers that things that are put onto vinyl, especially when you start getting into music- they need to be mixed and mastered for vinyl specifically. It’s not going to translate right. That’s why with Hamartia, we are going to d…
…rial around it, even a few more technically-proficient components are used from time to time. A few of the breakdowns have a more generic, deathcore-ridden feel, but these are few and far between. Death metal fans who are also groove-lovers will rejoice with Reign of Terror. While it may be a little one-note for some with the very groovy emphasis, it’s something that the band has a clear grasp of and use it for all its worth without cheapening it….
…that the Gothenburg era was famous for, without the feeling of a cheap rip-off or simple regurgitation (they do go so far as to cover the In Flames classic “Stand Ablaze”). Check out the addictive melodies of a track like “Endgame,” which effectively takes some nods from the thrashier side of the equation while delivering some keys to offset the galloping riffs when needed, as does the clean vocals of van Beest. The symphonic elements are used ra…
…t that they respect us enough, they want to catch us, follow us, buy CD’s, buy t-shirts. Dead Rhetoric: Is it a scary situation to see bands today often relying on backing tracks to replicate what’s been done in the studio on live stages? Spencer: For some bands, sure. The only backing tracks we use are on “Empty Air” there is a synth track, we don’t play anything off Ugly Noise anymore and that was click track oriented. We don’t do any backing vo…
…and show them our appreciation for them being there – and slinging those t-shirts! The more t-shirts people wear, the more the name gets out there and the more shirts people buy, the more gas goes in the tank to get to the next show. I love having these cool designs – we have a design out right now that says “Motor City Thrash” on the back, and on the front we have this guy who is from like Mad Max meets Freddy Kruger and he is riding a Mustang t…
…mpting this pairing. “Lights Out” also brings this dynamic up, and the wall-of-sound riffing at play here is the type that shakes your bones to the core – elevated by the build up from more atmospheric moments. While avoiding the cheap melodies, Car Bomb build their sound upon more genuine song dynamics, which have a tendency to stick with the listener far longer than one might expect. Thick, Meshuggah-esque grooves of “Black Blood” are bound to t…
…ork – whether zipping through faster tempos or lumbering along at near doom-ish rates, there are sizable melodies to be found. The band seems most at home with the mid-tempo, where the riffs earn the generic but fitting “crushing” tag (“Rot in Confinement”). Also adding to the sound is the subtle usage of some ‘80s inspired synths, which works quite well in regards to the horror themes that the cover makes use of, and provides a fitting mood for t…
…members and friends who felt content to sit in chairs and watch their half-hour set in comfort. A four-piece act, these teens prefer to keep everything instrumental in terms of the songwriting for the time being – developing a sound that straddled modern power groove with traditional inflections. They blazed through their set so quickly, one of the guitarists started packing away his guitar until the stage hand mentioned they had 5 more minutes……
…ce for other bands who do accept the terms, and we will continue seeing eye-to-eye into the future. I know if we stick together for some years, then I can put everything I have into promoting the band alongside the artist(s) without ever considering “how does this benefit me?” cause it makes me feel like part of the band for a few years, after which point they are free to go off and explore other options. I’ve had a good record so far of ‘breaking…
