…that left the crowd more than ready for the two acts to come. If a short 30-minutes was not enough, the band is still out on the road, this time with Icon for Hire, and they’re bound to pick up quite a few new fans with an energetic set like this one was. Of the three acts, the one I personally had the least exposure to was that of Solence. But sometimes that’s a good thing, as was the case here when it became a welcome surprise. The band’s upbeat…
…ange in and out by the day – it’s hard to not resist the roller coaster mid-tempo to doom/groove monster “Drain You Empty” or the Slayer-esque overdrive “Frenzied Feeding” after numerous passes, the lead breaks in the latter from Rob Barrett and Erik Rutan occasionally reminiscent of the dive bomb, whammy-bar enhanced proclivities of the King/Hanneman team. Fortunate to also place trust in the production/mixing/mastering duties within the seasoned…
…or more Elvenking photos from ProgPower XXII I think everyone needed a pick-me-up after all those heavy emotions, and Elvenking was there to deliver just that! Having released Reader of the Runes – Rapture back in April, it was expected to have a setlist heavily weighted with those tracks, but with their full-length catalog officially going to eleven, it seems they opted to play a more varied set. No complaints from this scribe, as they selected m…
…force to begin with, and still does, is their ability to craft these larger-than-life melodies and connect them seamlessly to some heavy riffing, groove-laden death metal sections, while simultaneously implementing a progressive structure that allows for epic-length songwriting without being pretentious about it. Mercenary have always been masters at building up a song so that the hairs on your neck stand at attention as they unload a charismatic…
…difference is Martin and I became fathers. Up until this album, we would co-write very intimately. I would have a riff, and Martin would have another riff or typically have a different idea than me as far as arranging the guitar, do something weird with the riff. We would be in the room together, showing each other riffs, and preparing/feeding off each other. Sometimes we would have a drummer in the room. That chemistry just changed when we became…
…erally – I am the same person. I have the same vocal range and capacity of writing, and the same writing influences. Everything is absolutely the same besides one little detail, which is the style of music. The style of music is mainly dictated by the musicians in the band, including our producer, and when they present a song to me, I try to feel the vibe and go accordingly. Honestly, even if Death Dealer Union was a completely different genre – n…
…C. guitar-wise filling the songs with a mix of death, grindcore, and groove-oriented chord progressions that fly as fast as his hands/fingers will allow. The left-field effort “For Tomorrow’s Lesson” near the end of the record contains a controlled, semi-tribal like tempo foundation against some ethereal doom-like riffs, probably one that will connect most to audiences desiring some circle pit action. Those who love older Napalm Death and Extreme…
…Maybe have some more additional layers as well. People who like our debut will be sure to like the next one we’ve got. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g3G-MDSnIw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb2smP8DKyA Outergods on Facebook…
…it a difficult process to separate the artist from the art of doing what’s best for the sake of the best final product? Do you know when to say when as far as the strongest takes/performances? Romero: For me, it’s pretty necessary. I was working for the last ten years for a lot of different musicians, very different between each other. Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Adrian Vandenberg, Alessandro from Frontiers Music as we did the Sunstorm st…
…e to be restless! Dead Rhetoric: How does your mindset differ when you are writing music versus producing it? Shankar: I think the one thing I always think about is intent in bringing things to fruition in the best way possible. The difference in producing is that it isn’t my universe. I am bringing someone else’s universe to fruition and it’s very personal to them – not so much to me, but very personal to them. When I am producing a band, I very…
…echild that proper positioning and resonance, a full sound that isn’t too pristine yet jumps out of your speakers as progressive rock meets doom next to heavy metal should. Blossom & Plague has that universal appeal to gather a cult-like following (and hopefully beyond) based on the talent, songwriting acumen, and natural affinity for the music they deliver. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L4yEpM5YyA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJKNC_ajvzw Ti…
…e” is the shortest song on the record and it was actually not that hard to write. It’s a riff-fest and the vibe was there from the get-go so the process was pretty flawless. “Frenetic Standstill”, on the other hand, was written by the other guitarist, Morten, who provided the full riff structure and ideas, and then we just expanded on that and added some more details before I wrote some lyrics I thought complimented the sound and drive from the so…
…d one into thinking this came straight out of 1999. Dark Tranquillity vibes-a-plenty are present in “Through Hidden Space,” with a hair of early Killswitch Engage in some sections near the end. Yes, there’s a smidgeon of the metalcore influence that permeated a portion of the melodic death metal scene in the 2000s, but it’s brief, and certainly shouldn’t dissuade those not into that sort of approach. A few tracks, such as “Human Slave Machine,” re…
…from newcomers, having been honing their craft since 2010, with three full-lengths to date. Their real creative breakout came in the form of 2019’s The Approaching Darkness, with all of the elements coming together to create a mix of quality songwriting and vicious technicality that few bands have managed to attain. Now on plying their trade on Transcending Obscurity, they’re looking to move up another rung with their fourth album, As the Ashes S…
…the scenes to get you aimed in a specific direction? Demner: When you are writing an album and you are used to writing what came naturally, then all of a sudden, Never Alone had “Finally Free” and it basically went viral, and we had a second record to follow it up. Now there was more ‘you have to do it this way’ for Darkness – we weren’t held at gunpoint to do something, but there were a lot of different opinions within the team for what they wan…
…ath metal, and having fun. Dead Rhetoric: You’ve arrived at the second full-length album Deities of Deathlike Sleep. What were the songwriting and recording sessions like – did you keep things very spontaneous and quick as far as tones and sounds, and where do you see this record compared to your debut album Into the Maw of Death from 2021? Stjernfeldt: I think that once again as with Into the Maw of Death we never said that we should do another a…
…he case of taking some of those chord progressions that are used a lot in J-pop, J-rock. Some of their music ideas and packaging it up into a power metal sound, basically. Dead Rhetoric: What did you want to get across with the cover art for Starbound Stories? Hudson: The cover art – I’m a big fan of RPG video games from the 1990’s, the Final Fantasy series, Nintendo games, stuff like that. I wanted to it look like a video game that you’ve never p…
…ng Silent Skies sound – if you hadn’t heard the originals you might be hard-pressed to identify them as cover songs. It’s all about exploring different shades and soundscapes with Dormant, but unifying them under a banner that ushers in genuine and powerful sentiments. Once Silent Skies ensnares themselves into your emotions, they bring you along for a poignant ride that isn’t like much else out there. Elegant, catchy, and ultimately moving, this…
…reat guitarist, and he is a drummer too. He knows what it takes to get the best take, and how to get the best out of us because we’ve known him for a long time by now – ten years already. We’ve developed a good relationship, we can mess around and joke around a lot, but when it comes to getting down to business, he will tell us when things suck, and to do it again. Sometimes I will do a take and think it sucks, and he’ll be like ‘dude- that was pe…
…an album from beginning to end and we are being ourselves. We are six songwriters with different influences and different ways to write music, but in the end, it always sounds like The Unity, with a really big variety. What we have to work on, our fan base. We need a lot more fans to keep going. It’s a lot of work. All of the bands suffer from people don’t buy music as much anymore on CD or vinyl, they listen more on their phones or through a com…
…n sound with the melodies but also this new style with more aggressive songwriting and vocals – we decided these two (songs) were the best choice for people to see that our sound is a bit more aggressive without being so complex to listen to. We did this video, it’s the first video that Warmen has ever done. That was very exciting for us. It’s hard work when you shoot the video, it’s a long day. I think everyone in the band has done videos before,…
…w for over twenty years. Dead Rhetoric: Heaven Into Dust is the second full-length album for Knife. How did the songwriting and recording sessions go for this set of material – and where do you see the growth or differences in this record compared to your self-titled debut from 2021? Laz: I think one of the main differences is we had much more time to rehearse. Before the first record, we had one show. That’s the most important difference between…
…. Guitarist Andy Clarke handles the main singing duties, mixing up the natural death growls with a gothic/clean aspect when necessary – and when the three-piece comes together to obliterate your senses, you get this sweeping sense of doom chaos that puts “Leaving the Skin” in that spine-tingling, teeth-rattling mode. At 42 minutes, All of This For Nothing achieves the desired effect to push The Crawling into those early Peaceville Records / Centur…
…ay because you’ll make good art. Having this podcast, opening myself to one-on-one feedback, has just been incredible. I’m fortunate to be able to make music that resonates with people – that’s the whole point. It’s a game changer for me. People from the outside will think – oh they played Download, they played Hellfest. A lot of that stuff, it’s just gradual steps and seems like another day. Being able to talk to fans one on one and hear how this…
…n the present day while enrobed with a speedy Children Of Bodom-ish ethic. Fast-forward to “Cult of the Serpent” and find yourself in a mania that could only be conjured by ferocious 2000’s stalwarts Wolf, vocals seething and crystalline, guitars prowling, racing with a predator’s cunning zeal underneath a silver moon’s glow. At record’s end, you’re back in the mid-80’s, except you’re in Holland, “Fall On Your Blade” invoking that nation’s own leg…
…ow do we elaborate on the band now? We’ve done super slow, we’ve done super-fast, so I think trying to do that and maintain that sound but make it catchier with something that gets stuck in your head, and more than just because it’s brutal. We are trying to make music that we can relate to and other people can relate to in the same way. It comes out in melody, and metalcore especially, the catchy rhythms, the syncopated patterns. We’ve gone on tou…
…ess do you try to map out who will handle what parts vocally? Is it a trial-and-error basis, or do you know who will do what part? Ekberg: We never know. When we get to the point where vocals come in, we find that this needs this or that. Clean or growl. Sometimes we feel that maybe I should do this part, and I’ll try it out – it sounds like crap, so Madeliene you do it (laughs). Liljestam: And we’ve had it the other way around. There is like grow…
…nds, and those influences. Dead Rhetoric: Eternity’s End is the debut, self-released album for Astralborne – what do you remember most regarding the recording and songwriting sessions, and how do you feel about this effort now having a few years distance from it? Cessna: When we started Astralborne, the whole idea was just to have fun. That is still the message and our mission statement today. At the time it was a side project, we just wanted to d…
…ks like “Heroes On Ice”, the crunchy/driving “We’re Falling”, or commercial-leaning, 80’s-oriented “In the Heat of the Night”. There are times when the musical interplay through keyboard/guitar syncopation plus double kick/progressive drumming showcases a bit more sophistication (“Fools” the clearest example), which keeps listener engagement a bit higher than on the normal, highly choir or vocal harmony driven efforts. Dark Sky carry a lot of trad…
…mmer Luana Dametto for a conversation regarding the expansion of style songwriting-wise, the mental issue/pain content that comes through on a majority of the lyrics, the minimalistic cover art, thoughts on crowdfunding to keep the band alive through a tragic weather-related incident on a recent US tour, her love of antiques, plus what the next year looks like on the touring end of things for the band. Dead Rhetoric: Shades of Sorrow is the second…
