…ecific bands from Accept to W.A.S.P., Icon to Warlock, as well as the tried-and-true Dio, Judas Priest, and Saxon aspects – yet the four-piece find a way to inject a pure honest spirit to their performances, writing (and delivering) from the heart. Guitarist Lex Thunder doubles on lead vocals, his delivery, phrasing, and range certainly befitting of a powerhouse with leather lungs to spare – as the high-octane screams prove on the Manowar-ish “Bat…
…Dead Rhetoric: Do you believe it’s harder for people to engage in more face-to-face communication, versus the use technology to communicate? Melissourgos: I’m an old school person. I prefer talking to someone straight in their face. I will give you a small example. I didn’t used to have my own Facebook account until a year ago. I just use it for the promotional stuff of the band, and maybe talking with friends or people that are not living that cl…
…respected in the industry, including Mark Jensen of Epica, Timo Somers (ex-Delain), Sander Zoer (Delain), and produced by Oliver Philipps of Everon and Phantasma. The vocals are not at all overdone, a pitfall of much of this genre, and the guitars are quite fiery at times. That much is evident with the album opener “Archangel”. The intro to “Unshakable” gives way to a medieval sound and tasty guitar solo. A definite winner for me was/is “Dream Vo…
…my own. When we went through the pandemic, originally, I was going to do co-writing different sessions with different guitarists and different people to write the riffs. And then we hit the pandemic, and I had no choice but to write it myself. I hadn’t considered myself a riff writer, until I had to. That was super challenging. With this one, I knew what I could do, and what I wanted to improve at. With the first Durbin album there’s a lot of exce…
…touches incorporated in specific songs like “Spirit of the Moon” or the mid-tempo offering “Origin of Dreams” – drummer Matteo Norbedo flexing his solid kit skills across his main duties while employing double kick speed variance. Properly keeping the record at a comfortable forty-one minutes also allows the listeners deeper engagement with the songs and smaller details at play – specific bass lines, dual keyboard/guitar passages, or the male/fema…
…almost doubled the time. So considering the band underwent yet another line-up change with new growler Mikael Sehlin replacing long-time member Henrik “GG6” Englund Wilhelmsson, there were a lot of cards on the table and plenty of expectations for the album to live up to. In a nutshell, if you’ve enjoyed Amaranthe in the past, you are inevitably going to love The Catalyst. If Manifest saw Amaranthe really lock in the best moments of their sound an…
…s completed? Gregor: I really appreciate you asking this. We’ve tried once writing lyrics and then writing the music, but I don’t know many people that do that. It’s hard because you don’t know what measures you are going to write, how long the measures are going to be. When the lyrics are premeditated, it dictates the verses, the choruses. We always write the music first, that way as I’m working on lyrics, I can get into the song – this part is s…
…unchy, heads down metal riffs command the stage while Jeff’s soulful, multi-octave abilities shine. The guitar work of fellow guitarist Jon Votta next to Ron Thal galvanizes these songs with a modern, low-tuned girth next to some spacious clean measures – check out the eerie “Echo Your Madness” or alternative / progressive aspects to “Rivals” for some of their best rhythms as well as supplementary lines that mesmerize as solid earworms, Vince Vott…
…onclusion to the album. Darkest Hour showcase a full album of what they do best with Perpetual | Terminal. It’s nothing outside of their usual wheelhouse but it’s honed and polished to an incredible degree, the type that’s easy to digest and enjoy. Chocked full of melodies and frantic energy, it’s something that long-time fans are truly going to enjoy. Darkest Hour continue to be one of the shining, yet somehow a bit underrated, acts of the metalc…
…has more of an epic touch to it. It’s still a thrash album and it’s a very fast album, because I think some songs are some of the fastest songs we’ve ever written. It has a deeper feeling to it than the first album. Dead Rhetoric: Was it also a planned thing to do a sequel song to “Sorrow of War” from the previous album with “Sorrow of War II” on 24/7 Hate? Albert: It’s cool that you are asking about this. It wasn’t planned, when we wrote the firs…
…laying out eight songs from compact to epic arrangements allows this forty-five-minute record to unfold in adequate mannerisms – where listeners can absorb all the bombastic orchestration, supreme high pitch melodies, or dazzling guitar/keyboard virtuosity sans information overload. Opener “Rise Amaterasu” resides in that Finnish/Teutonic anthem-oriented mold, containing the requisite double kick, uplifting chorus moments that keep audiences in a…
…verywhere, then with Suicide Silence we went everywhere. We were going full-steam. We had just finished a headlining tour with Fallujah in some other bands, then the pandemic hit. That was right around when I had created a Patreon, and it was more of a record/fan club kind of thing, just sending shit to people. They paid a little extra money, and we gave them extra content. It was cool! Then when the pandemic hit we started doing a lot through it…
…raw me and the most real me that I can ever offer to people. I’m going to write about what I know, and what I know about emotions is what I am going to write about. So some emotions get to me, and some shows more than others. We are often vulnerable emotionally, and sometimes you think something doesn’t bother you, but then another day you aren’t as emotionally strong and maybe something else disrupted your emotional equilibrium, that same thing…
…itars are memorable buzzsaws of fury, and the rhythms pound away to give the right amount of low end. As bands like Emperor progressed throughout their recording history to showcase ever improving songwriting capability, so has Hulder, with Verses in Oath being an outstanding example of taking the next snow-covered step in an already impressive existence. Hulder on Facebook…
…records? Lenny B.: It was also an experiment because times are changing so fast in the music industry, because the music industry is moving so fast. I’m still a young kid, but I’m not a guy who’s using Spotify too much. I’m not listening to playlists, because I don’t like somebody else telling me what to listen to. It’s a personal thing. On the other hand, it was a question that if this album is something different, maybe we should also be open en…
…gles on point next to the fierce thrash presentation. Expect salvos of mosh-worthy rhythms, shifting tempos of a fast paced to slightly moderate groove pacing, plus plenty of vicious vocals with group gang chants in all the key verse/chorus passages. First off, it’s hard not to notice the raspy, tactile delivery of vocalist Larry Lethal throughout these songs. He has the right grasp of European finesse next to Bay Area / East Coast bite to crossov…
…rd. It’s not that they are our friends, but they have really created an out-of-this-world record indeed. I’m also quite fond of Dutch musician Jurre Timmer’s acoustic folk solo project Thurnin. His first record Menhir grabbed my attention back when it was released in 2021, and his follow up Utiseta from last year is equally brilliant. Really soothing, evocative folk. And just to round up some of the things I’ve been listening to lately: Hexvessel,…
…influence and household god for me here. Dead Rhetoric: What are your short-term and long-term goals that you’ve set for Rifforia? Johansson: Short term goals are to come out and play live, interact with the people on social media, create a good following and community, good atmosphere. We will probably start writing the next album as well, Marcus has already sent me a couple of riffs. He’s on it. Long term goals, it’s hard to say. We want to play…
…tempo/guitar runs reach peak punk/metal velocity as if you are hearing the best of Glenn Danzig next to Rival Sons. The galloping d-beat foundation often collides headfirst into guitar/bass interplay that fuses the spirit of classic Motörhead, early Poison Idea, and the brilliance of Suicidal Tendencies – the extra adrenaline high string bends or furious fill work added nuances to an already adrenaline-fueled sound that can not be stopped. Many wi…
…frantic riffing, and of course, four vocalists at the front of it all. “Wan-der” is their latest single, and it captures that same frenetic energy that the urgent chiptune-esque synths would have you believe. Drum battery, crunchy riffs, and a swirl of pleasing voices all fight for the landscape, and it all equates to a fantastic song that soars high. While other alt idols have this particular sound as well, there’s something special about how it…
…erse. From enormous riffs, transitioning to a pensive interlude, and a full-on flood of guitar-driven tremolo magic, this track tattoos itself into the ear canal. Taylor Young’s production work also needs another mention, as this sort of raw and gritty sound profile is exactly what Dead Mother Moon needed, as opposed to a slicker and cleaner feel. Young acts displaying such an affinity for this style of music is refreshing. Dead Mother Moon is an…
…c” stands the test of time. The duality cheerleader frontman next to an ear-shattering, multi-octave delivery allows the audience to easily accept Michael’s elite vocals, especially in the higher, upper note activities that take place in a potent anthem like “Bomb Food”, the militant, mechanical-oriented transition going down a storm with the festival audience. The setlist contains plenty of rebel rousing moments, encouraging crowd chants, stomps,…
…ary? Görtz: There’s so much that we did differently. Lukas is our main songwriter, so he comes up with all of the riffs. For Solitary, I would say the songs that he wrote were almost finished – like 99% finished as far as arrangements go. This time, the songwriting was more open towards the band. More people contributed. We played around with the arrangements more. I think one of the biggest influences on Dormant that we didn’t have was that to pl…
…mastering skills of Ronnie Björnström (Nightrage, Sorcerer) to ensure a top-of-the-line final sonic quality that fits the feel for the musical proceedings. The previous album Imperial Congregation pushed Blood Red Throne into critical acclaim territory, which they will achieve once again in this follow-up Nonagon. Proof that you can be heavy, slightly adventurous, and diverse all within one album, this should appease the faithful while introducing…
…. But at the same time, we didn’t want to limit ourselves. We didn’t start writing thinking, “ok, we have to do another metalcore album now” or something like that. We just naturally wrote what we wanted to write – it came out authentically. I think that is a great jump forward or a push to higher levels, because there are a lot of bands who just want to go into one direction. But I think there are a lot of other bands who just do what they want….
…nd the Bad” but seems a tad tedious in the lower register delivery of a mid-tempo outing like “Move”. These three chord-oriented songs provide plenty of swinging hooks, infectious tempos, and the ideal gang-like shouted choruses that go over gangbusters, as a second half track like “Planet 5” attests. The songs fly by to make a tight 42-minute record, showcasing an adapt knowledge of sticking to strengths while cutting away any excess to push the…
…really honed in on them. Well, their new album Rattle the Cage is out as I write this on Massacre Records, so I thought I’d check it out. I’m pretty pleased in general. It’s got some big hooks and sweet grooves to rock out to. The album wastes very little time in getting down to business with a triple shot of opener “Now and Forever”, “Wolves At the Door”, and “Cry Out Loud”. There’s no pussyfooting here, just ass kickery, something I always enjoy…
…t of topics at the ready before the music is done, or do you work on a case-by-case basis as the musical ideas develop and churn out the words/melodies based on the emotions or atmosphere that comes about? Byford: Pretty much, not always, I wait for…. You know I am a musician myself, we spend a lot of time with the boys on the music, arranging, and fine tuning the parts. I have a list of ideas I have, and if the music suits the idea, then I’ll tak…
…mainframe thrash or death styles. The mini-drum solo break next to the four-on-the-floor foundational locomotive riffs for “Unnecessary Consuming” revels in its classic Motörhead-ish glory, while the alluring gallop next to some alternative chugging, low-tuned picking puts “A Waste of Human Being” into another potent highlight, Felipe’s fervent bark mirroring the jackhammer atmosphere to the max almost like Prong careening headfirst into Sepultura…
…was done with my studies, a psychologist, I was going to turn into a grown-up, have a full-time job, and if I’m going to have any flexible time it’s now while I’m writing my master’s thesis. I just knew I wanted to do something that was more akin to the international bands than what I was used to here. There are some progressive bands but most of us listen to stuff like Opeth, Tool, and I wanted that kind of dynamic where it’s still dark and heav…
