…rdent followers of those primetime days. Veteran guitarist Herman Frank recruited some new members and put together a fantastic set of tracks that span the hard rock/metal spectrum: tracks full of energy, hooks, melodies, from full on metal efforts to tender ballads as well as stomping anthems in between. We reached out to new singer Gianni Pontillo who was happy to help us learn more about how he got into the band, the songwriting and vocal perfo…
…w. I love “The Beatings…”, it’s a short Exodus song with one verse, two choruses and a lead section. It was a good song to put out, it’s brutal, it’s heavy. Definitely exemplifies what Exodus is all about, kick in your face type of riff and murder your wife type of lyrics, it has a good blend of everything we are all about. Dead Rhetoric: Is it hard at this point in your career to push yourselves creatively because all of the work you’ve done at t…
…he Patreon for quite a while. I had went by the Patreon headquarters in February, so it had been planned a long time before COVID happened. Part of me, when we were all in lockdown, was like ‘You can’t launch it now. This is too weird of a time to ask people for money. Everyone is struggling.’ But then another voice in my mind didn’t know how long this was going to be, and maybe people are bored and want to hear new music since they are stuck at h…
…to do this, originally I wanted him for two songs where I had programmed drums that I wanted to add acoustic things to it, that I thought would sound really good with a real drummer to this. He had some time on his hands and he wanted to do it. Dead Rhetoric: You mention in the background info the fact that when it comes to instrumental music, it’s hard to tell a story with any specificity. How do you handle the challenge of getting these ideas a…
…or Pat, that was a challenge in and of itself because that program is non-drummer friendly. I’d take constructive criticism from the band, send them the files along with the tab, ask what they think. Jeff changed the clean part in “Pilfered” to what it is now, I think it’s a lot better. Pat offered his flavor on different drum patterns. It’s one thing if I write and I think it sounds good, but you have to separate yourself and realize everything i…
…on the record. I love his style on the leads as it’s very aggressive and brutal, but it is also a very structured kind of solo style. I think it’s cool. His solos seem composed, and I like that. Dead Rhetoric: The artwork is quite striking, it seems it’s been a while since you had to make more than one version. Webster: As people know, we have had a handful of albums that we just knew…when we saw the main piece of art we were like, “Ok, we are go…
…lot [laughs]. What stands out to me is that we put the band on ice back in 2003 or 2004 because we were fed up and wanted to do something else. We traveled around with a different band for a few years and started up again back in 2009. One of the first things we did was the main stage at Wacken. It was a big step up from club shows to doing the main stage there. That was kind of cool. It’s not like we do that every year but it was very cool to do…
…feel that piece is a defining part of your sound? Dagenais: For us, the struggle over the years – I have always felt that Kataklysm is a very strong live band. We have that energy and chemistry together on the stage. The struggle has always been to capture it and put it on a cd. I feel sometimes that we are a better live band than on albums, because of that energy. I think through the years, we have managed to figure a way to do it and we are get…
…ge, Herman Frank, and Silent Force among others? Parkes: André is a great drummer, I really like him as a person and a drummer. He’s very professional in what he is doing, he doesn’t make mistakes. He brings a lot to the table. He has a certain style with his fills and different things that he does. He is awesome. Dead Rhetoric: How long does the process take from the initial songwriting development to the studio work and reaching the final produc…
…lenge for me. Sometimes you have small little ones, but I’ve been playing drums for over forty years now. I’m quite good on the instrument, but it’s not like I can have a jazz band call me and play jazz. In the hard rock and metal genre, I’m feeling really comfortable. When it comes to The Unity, there was only one big challenge on the new record, “Rusty Cadillac”, but I liked it. Now when I listen to it, I’m proud of being able to play that shuff…
…t. The loyalty that they had to the music really impressed me. It’s still true today, 38 years later. Everyone is still listening to Metallica, Testament, Mercyful Fate, and Venom today. Dead Rhetoric: There is that loyalty, and lack of trend-hopping. The music doesn’t fade, like other things. Zazula: No – the only problem is that you may not buy their next record. Some bands have to make really great albums today in order to be purchased. You hav…
…he last one. That was me trying to experiment with the things about metal drumming that excite me, and the things that I wanted to do. Drummers play very specific ways – some are focused on maintaining a groove, others are crazy with fills, while some want to see how hard they can hit and how fast they can play. I’d like to think that this album’s drumming sounds like me – and I think it speaks to the idea of bringing outside influences in. Dead R…
…Havancsák is the cover artist once again – and has been a part of the Destruction artistry since 2005 with Inventor of Evil. What do you enjoy most about his work for the band – and what was the idea behind his creativity for the new album? Schmier: We wanted something different this time. He’s a great artist because he’s a metalhead – he has been working for us for so many years, he understands the band really well. I come up with an idea or a d…
…abels just pay whoever they are working with directly, because they don’t trust their artists. But NB trusts us, so it is really letting us get to that next level; it’s really all thanks to them. So our survival has been in part due to our label as well as ourselves, as we worked really hard on Die Without Hope and Slow Death. We toured really hard on those albums. Dead Rhetoric: You put out a graphic novel, Death Dreamer, out last year. What was…
…so many tracks, so many symphonic elements on top of the regular band instruments. That takes forever, I bring 200 tracks of choirs, so you can imagine that as well as recording the real choirs on top of this all. It takes two-three weeks for the choir recordings, and then more time with the samples of my choir recordings, you can imagine how tough it is. We want to highlight the voice of Fabio as the main element of this new Rhapsody incarnation…
…Ü. released their latest album 1981. The decade of 1981-1989 delivered over 200 slasher movies and F.K.Ü. decided to pay a special tribute to the main focus year 1981, also known as the ultimate year of the slasher movie genre. In other words, the year that delivered what are considered to be the cream of the crop of slasher films.. Since F.K.Ü. released 1981, the band have been touring throughout Sweden and have played at major festivals such as…
…lly work on it and play it faster. When I played drums, I was taught that drummers hit the drums. Players like Bonham and Keith Moon – you beat the shit out of your drums. That’s what you do. A lot of these drummers play super fast, and they are amazing. They are way faster than me. But they barely hit their drums. They are tapping everything. They don’t even break a sweat when they play. It’s crazy when they do it, but they aren’t putting any int…
…avorite contemporary vocalist. We love the first Hibria record Defying the Rules from 2004, and we never approached him because he is in that band. Then one day we heard everybody had left the band – we tried contacting him through Instagram, sent him a couple of demos and he really liked the songs. He wrote many of the vocal melodies by himself, and it felt more like a real band effort this time. Someone would send riffs here, another person woul…
…r places you’ve visited? Altzi: There is so much. I was a bass player until 2007, basically – I started to since a little bit in mid-2000. That’s how I got in contact with Olaf from At Vance- I liked the band and I wanted to get a song from him to practice and send it out to get jobs as a singer instead of playing bass. When he replied that he didn’t write songs unless they were good enough for an album, he asked if he could send me a flight ticke…
…joy the whirlwind. There’s certainly plenty more available material to pull from in the next two years (perhaps giving us The First 200 songs). Anal Trump on Facebook…
…t you are familiar with but haven’t had the chance to do these longer tour runs? Brown: Yeah, it’s funny. We’ve played shows with Unleash the Archers and Skull Fist, and all these other Canadian bands in the past, but never full tours. It’s really fun because we are good friends with all of these people. The metal scene in North America, and especially in Canada, isn’t a very big place. If there are bands that are actually touring internationally,…
…s of Delirium? Mike Bell: We’ve made a symphonic metal album that we feel truly does the style justice. Sure, we may not have reinvented the wheel here, but we feel that these songs are damn good. Really damn good! Dead Rhetoric: What were some of the challenges you faced in crafting the album? Mike Bell: The biggest challenge was the orchestra! Starting out we had a vague idea of how to arrange/record virtual orchestra, but we had no idea what ki…
…m that could sound like the previous one’s b-side. That was something we struggled with from the last one into this one, because I felt like we were writing all of the same songs. Nobody wants to hear that. Let’s do something new. Let’s grow from there and start from a blank slate, and I think it was the best approach for us. Dead Rhetoric: It’s good too, that you can go back and look at what you’ve done, and be constructive about it. Clark: Anoth…
…, the negotiations of a new record deal, and expectations for the new tour runs the band will be engaged in. Dead Rhetoric: How has drummer Joonas Kauppinen’s health been since having back surgery earlier in the year? Tuomas Saukkonen: A lot better. It was quite tricky with the back thing. Something in between the vertebrae, the cartilage popped out, but not in a regular direction – it went sideways so it was pressing quite badly on the nerves and…
…terms of all the people in all the bands that are known for a certain instrument, or multi-instruments. What was it exactly that made them go to that instrument- especially for drummers. I’d like to choose an instrument where I get to cart around 500 different pieces of equipment (laughs). For me, it’s all been a natural thing. I’ve sang and hummed to myself all along- I have always been a person who likes to be in the forefront of things. I do f…
…ample when I was about 7 or 8 years old I came back from playing soccer to run through a 300-400 meter long forest, but it was in the evening. Outside it wasn’t dark, but inside the forest it was definitely dark and this to me was like relating to the gates of hell. I dropped the ball and just ran through the forest, like the devil’s behind me. I do remember this for the rest of my life, running through the darkness – when I was 5 or 6 years old I…
…f metal. The show would take place in the smaller lounge confines of Fete – 200 capacity at the max and very close to full by the time Havok would take the stage to end the proceedings. The first of three local openers Chronovore blitzed through their 25-minute set as if their lives depended upon it. Even as hi-hats and drum sticks from Ethan Proulx would fall to the ground, the band never lost their way – pummeling the listeners with their brand…
…mbraces many fringe acts that may have been critical favorites but often struggled to gain major appeal: Vicious Rumors, Liege Lord, Riot, Scanner, Crimson Glory, and Chroming Rose to name a few. Does this make it as difficult in today’s scene to gain appeal against some of the more ‘trend’-oriented genres within metal? Sudzuka: I think that’s always the case- nice list of bands you mentioned there too. It’s a very niche style- not many people are…
…style. Dead Rhetoric: Did you also know which tracks you wanted to be instrumentals, as you have three different instrumentals on this album versus the seven vocal-led songs? Gus G.: I knew the song “Thrill of the Chase” was going to be an instrumental song, but the other two “Aftermath” and “Fearless” are heavier, and they were destined to be vocal tracks for Firewind. In the case of “Fearless”, I quickly realized when I had the main riff that t…
…With long-time bassist Todd Strange back in the fold, plus guitarist Matt Brunson and drummer Tommy Buckley no slouches either on their respective instruments, it gives vocalist/guitarist Kirk Windstein all the proper tools to just level the listeners with track after track of heaviness. They’ve carved their own niche – which is never easy to do in any genre, let alone metal. The fanbase at this point has everyone from blue collar workers to stone…
