…ek to learn words of wisdom from your career or things that they should apply to their lives, what sorts of advice or insight do you try to provide? Atkins: For young musicians, get a good lawyer. Get somebody that knows something about the business before you sign on the dotted line. Believe in yourself and what you do, stick to that. If nobody else believes in you, believe in yourself and you will get there, hopefully. Dead Rhetoric: Is that a s…
…and blastbeats. Those are really the core elements to the genre. As far as lyrically, it can go from murder and torture to inner struggles and pain. I would say that in its own just defines the genre. Whether you are listening to brutal death metal, death/doom, melodic death metal, thrash death – it all pretty much as those root, key elements in it. Dead Rhetoric: What are some the horror movies that have impacted the band’s sound? Swank: As far a…
…and Wild” and “Sinner” find favor the most) and this gives the listener a bit of a metal history lesson while catching them up to speed on where Helstar comes from in their own approach. Having reviewed Vampiro for the site five years previous, it showcases a mixture of their tried and true classic licks and speed/power tricks with occasional progressive and extreme angles, hopefully aiding the cause for Helstar to gain that second to third metal…
…n due to the pandemic. What were those show(s) like and how do you believe Warzaw compares live to the studio recordings? Alvarez: I think it’s even better live. It’s pretty much why we started another band, to have another band we could play with live and is fun. This music is even better live– you get the whole visual thing, and these shows were fun. Dead Rhetoric: Two videos have been released for “Spitfire” and “The Second Banana”. How do you…
…d he came up with “After the Rain”. It was so heartfelt, a personal thing. Bit by bit, songs were being taken care of. Eventually Ronnie was available, so he ended up with less songs of course. With Brian helping out too, it all got designed by something else rather than me. It couldn’t have worked out better than it did. Dead Rhetoric: You mention always playing from the heart – even this deep into your career. How do you gain such energy and cre…
…Face This Burn (Massacre Records) Reuniting after eighteen years apart, Holy Mother delivers Face This Burn – blistering the aural landscape with ten tracks of hard-driving heavy metal with modern/alternative inflections. Between Mike Tirelli’s soaring vocal range, primal guitar/bass play out of Greg Giordano, and thunderous drumming from James Harris, listeners can expect a mixture of Judas Priest/Dio-oriented material (the title track and “The…
…oring in spots a la current Destruction. Three albums into their career now, Spain’s Injector with Hunt of the Rawhead straddle the line of pummeling thrash with a strong melodic, traditional metal influence throughout these nine tracks. Which will be a welcome addition obviously for those who not only love the fast and furious activities that put the first Bay Area wave on the map, but also those European predecessors that possessed a lot of twin…
…rtyrdom” to the militaristic and calculating “Iron Vultures,” the band really does hit a bit of everything. But it all stays consistent, with the only thing holding it back being somewhat lackluster in the memorable riff department. There’s unfortunately not a track that really reels you in and drags you back for more. – Kyle McGinn (The Deviant on Facebook) Grimorte – Esoteric Ascendance (Self-Released) Another brand new act unleashing their firs…
…to make it happen. We are hoping to do a playthrough video, funny enough of one of the songs off the earlier demo. There is some new stuff we would like to show off. We will work on recording new music a lot sooner than the break between the first demo and this EP. Probably early next year. The next thing will definitely be a full-length. I feel confident we can do a full-length album. Maybe we can get picked up from a label from this EP – if not…
…the end for the original incarnation of Sanctuary? Rutledge: Yeah, you really noticed especially in Seattle. I kind of remember the groundswell, but right when Nevermind came out, you knew something was changing. I remember thinking it was pretty cool. For some people Nirvana is a bad word, but there is something undeniable and special about Nevermind. The songs were catchy and hard hitting. We felt it, I remember sitting in the car with Jeff Loom…
…ike the best in his field. Cidesphere slot into that niche of late 90’s/early 2000’s acts previously mentioned – crafting and executing a record that isn’t exactly going to scream of originality but does deliver plenty of exciting moments. Dawn of a New Epoch should give this revitalized quintet another shot at developing a decent buzz beyond Turkey and into the hearts of the international fans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYLCeX9lfD8 http://ww…
…and rhythm section support this AOR/classic rock radio stable professionally. Probably best served for those new to the group or ardent collectors who need everything Lizzy Borden related. – Matt Coe (Lizzy Borden official website) Lord Fist – Wilderness of Hearts (High Roller Records) Cranking out a straight-forward true metal sound, Finnish unit Lord Fist release their second album Wilderness of Hearts. Front man Perttu Koivunen has a mid-range…
…released two more full-lengths. Prior to the release of this newest album Elysium, only guitarist/keyboardist Biggie P. Phanrath remains – assembling a new lineup for bass, drums, keyboards, and vocals. Embracing a wider array of influences to include the feel/atmosphere of movie soundtracks, djent and extreme embellishing, the listener can expect to be transported on an aural adventure featuring diversity, intricate fusion and interplay, as well…
…ng to stick with? Hordé: Yeah – it’s a part of our identity. It would be a bit complicated to deeply explain the meaning. But Aether was the feeling of emptiness – the emptiness between two things: people, planets, whatever. Without emptiness, those two things couldn’t exist. So everything is important in the end, so that was the meaning of it. In Aego Templo, the AE is the temple of the self. It’s more about constructing yourself. In order to do…
…r he did all the lyrics for the album. When we were beginning to write the lyrics, he had the news that he was waiting for his third child to be born, and maybe that was the spark or the idea to tell the story about this character. He should be the one answering this question, because the story is very personal. Dead Rhetoric: And how do you work out the specific songs hand in hand with the lyrical content, is it difficult sometimes to make certai…
…tle moment where it looked like things are getting better. But it was fake news. Globally, it’s uncertain. It’s an uncomfortable feeling. It feels like there could be some more disastrous things happening politically. There is one thing to be worried about – will we ever be able to travel across the Atlantic, or is this a little scare or everything will go back to normal? Dead Rhetoric: What is in store for Humavoid over the next twelve to eightee…
…though that sounds romantic, like I’m trying to push ahead, I just get really bored easily. As soon as I’ve done something, I feel like I don’t have the energy to do it again because I know what the outcome is going to be. Whenever I have the opportunity to do something new, I often become compelled to go in directions that I haven’t gone before. That invariably ends up being a gong show. That’s how it rolls. This ended up being another example of…
…e people a chance to put their minds into something else other than the daily bad news. Dead Rhetoric: Were there any special lyrical or musical inspirations for Feel the Burn? Heino: Musically we wanted to do something a bit different without losing one bit of our identity as a band. We were after some poppier elements rather than steering towards more heavier direction. That doesn´t mean the music lacks power, quite on the contrary. As far as th…
…band, that’s for sure. Dead Rhetoric: This is quite an interesting concept lyrically tackled this go around. How did you narrow down the subject matter, and how much research took place with the specific historical figures, and one fictional character with Cornelius from Planet of the Apes for “The Forbidden Zone”? Ashcraft: A lot of research between Heather and myself, which was really a lot of fun. This is something we had been thinking about si…
…le not forsaking those early traditional/NWOBHM roots that put them on the map initially. Focusing on Portuguese history and the occult for many of the lyrical themes this go around, the incorporation of keyboards and seven-string guitar use plus production values that beef up the guitar and bass tones definitely gives the material a modern, punchy sheen compared to their previous outings. Cultural chord progressions evoke numerous singalong momen…
…speeds, culminating in an energetic rush of epic proportions. It’s completely raging and furious. Exactly what you want to hear in this throwback sound. But to simply do that would put them at the same level as many a band that dole out SweDeath material. What makes Lik a higher quality is the attention that they give to melodies in this whirlwind of death. Punchy solos are all over the map, and tracks like “Decay” and “Flesh Frenzy” are able to d…
…f despondency. There is a quiet that ends the opener and bridges effortlessly into the wholly acoustic “Det djupa havet”, a quiet that belies a sense of endless longing. While that may carry as a saccharine bit of exposition on the opening of Dikter om döden, it is written to be intentionally hyperbolic – this is an outstanding listen. As noted, the marriage of folk with black metal is nothing new – within every national (and regional) scene there…
…a mix of hard rock, rockabilly and metal on this third full-length Still Alive. Sonically blending together elements of Volbeat, Social Distortion, and Motörhead, it’s a sound that’s quite infectious, featuring focused, tight songs, addictive and easy to go down choruses, plus plenty of groove and punch to get the bodies bouncing and swinging in glee. The semi-ska slant to the main verse riff of “Going Away from Good” gives chase to an energetic,…
…ears, or even five years, I think you have to come back with something really, really strong. Unfortunately, I buy a lot of music, I still buy CD’s, and I see a lot of the classic bands putting out stuff that’s not up to the level of quality I would expect from them. I did not want people to see the band in that way – I wanted to come out with something as high quality as possible. Dead Rhetoric: There seemed to be a conscious effort to keep the s…
…s the tempo and speed up tenfold to where most remember SA during their early glory days – as a result making it a magnificent effort. What could be a bit of a sticking point to full on appreciation for Mysterizer would be the high-pitched warble of Vitalii. He sounds like he’s singing with a full barrel of helium in his lungs – even higher than Chris Bay of Freedom Call, the almost sinister edge has an unintended comical quality that makes songs…
…learly, the band was going to pick the songs that they still use occasionally in the live setting, but they tend to come across as half-baked versions of the ‘classics.’ The energy that was in the originally is evidently lacking – just listen to the clean vocals that dominate “Only for the Weak” and it’s quickly clear it’s an inferior version. That same lack of energy persists throughout the other three remade tracks, and the modern feel just rips…
…raftian deity, especially the one who spawned Cthulhu, your music better deliver the unholy goods. And Ukraine’s Nug did exactly that with Alter Ego. Post-metal, as nebulous as the term is, has gone quite stale these past few years, what with downright boring copycats like Rosetta or The Ocean Collective regurgitating ersatz Isis records. On the flipside, there’s bands like Neurosis and Cult of Luna that still manage to push the envelope and send…
…metal spirit alive even as the band stretches their songs and style out a bit. There’s quite a bit to digest with Speciation, which is a good thing. While the music has that ‘old school’ vibe, one could also it’s more of a timeless one than a sound that ends up being relegated to one of the usual geographic locales. It’s thick and filthy in tone, with vocals that bellow with just as much grit as the music itself. It’s an ugly sound, but one that’…
…lf (laughs). It’s incredible man. There are a list of things you can probably do differently, and there’s no doubt that I would say I’ve made my share of mistakes. I’ve put the work and the time in also, I’ve been able to survive in these shark infested waters, switching record companies and management, learning to do it myself. All the different interplays within the band, having a relationship to keep the band together. The one thing I’ve always…
…p – making the band very interchangeable despite having all the tools to deliver a killer product. Considering the genre has now been around for over 35+ years, bands like Suicide Nation need to really be at the top of their game dissecting their songwriting to make material that elevates themselves as younger contemporaries fight for limited attention and finances. Hall of Violence may appeal to the average thrash consumer, but probably not move…
