Website : Cryptopsy

The much anticipated new CRYPTOPSYalbum, “The Unspoken King”, is the first to see the light of day featuring their new vocalist Matt McGachy and keyboardist Maggie Durand. Matt joined the band 2007 and replaces fan favorite Lord Worm The songs feature both clean and death metal vocals — a first for the band — and we find the band switching musical extremes on a dime from introspective to grind, something that did not go over well on a number of metal message boards, chat groups and forums.

So there is much to talk about and a couple of hours before the show in Tilburg at the Neurotic Death fest where we have the chance to talk to drummer Flo. Halfway through the interview, bassist Eric joins in the conversation. 

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Website : Terror

TERROR, (formed in 2000) is a hardcore punk, crossover thrash and metalcore band from Los Angeles, California. Ignoring current musical trends, the L.A. based band has stuck to its guns playing aggressive, no frills, breakneck hardcore like The Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front before them. Ragged metal-tinged guitars, rapid fire drum lines, slithering bass lines and trademark double-fisted vocal attacks are trademarks of their sound.

We catch Martin Stewart (Guitars) at the end of the TERROREuropean tour and he's willing to answer some of our questions.

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Website : Keep Of Kalessin

The new Keep Of Kalessin album is entitled ‘Kolossus’ (which came out June 9th) and is anticipated to have a huge impact on the whole metal scene. Recorded in the band's own studio in Trondheim, ‘Kolossus’ is a natural descendant of ‘Armada’, and perfectly reflects the unique musical craftsmanship and the undisputable power of the band. All songs featured on the album are recorded without any clipping or copy/paste technique and all instruments are done in real time. The base of the music has still clear references to black metal, but the band also includes other influences like death metal and thrash metal, making their style fresh and truly unique.

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Website : Unleashed

The legendary Swedish death metallers UNLEASHED are about to release their 9th album, entitled "Hammer Battalion". Unleashed was founded in 1989 by vocalist/bassist Johnny Hedlund after his former band, Nihilist, ceased to exist. In 1991, the band released their debut studio album ‘Where No Life Dwells’.

The new album was recorded in Sweden and produced by the band's guitarist Fredrik Folkare. "Hammer Battalion" will continue in the same victorious spirit as the previous album 'Midvinterblot'. The new album takes a battle-hardened axe to the misguided concepts of self-subjugation, transparent corruption and unneeded suffering in the name of religious figureheads and provides a perfect link between the ancient struggles of their Nordic forefathers and the ills of our modern society.

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Website : Moonspell

The new Moonspell opus ‘Night Eternal’ was released in Europe last week (May 19) and will be issued in the U.S. on June 10 via SPV/Steamhammer. The follow-up to 2006's "Memorial" was recorded at Antfarm studios in Denmark with producer Tue Madsen. ‘Night Eternal’ will continue the sound of ‘Memorial’ with catchy melodies and great riffs. Former The Gathering and current Agua De Annique vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen makes a guest appearance in the song "Scorpion Flower", on which she sings a duet with Moonspell frontman Fernando Ribeiro.

So there's plenty to talk about, and recently Martina conducted an interview with Moonspell drummer Miguel "Mike" Gaspar, so here you can read what he had to say.

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Website : Devian

Originally formed under the short-lived name of Elizium and then switching names for a more striking impact upon signing a worldwide deal with Century Media Records, Sweden's newest metal threat DEVIAN is the brainchild of former Marduk members Legion (Vocals, ex Ophthalamia) and Emil Dragutinovic (Drums, also in The Legion) after their departure from the Black Metal commando in their strife to come up with a new breed of wretched Scandinavian Metal. Together with guitarists Joinus and Tomas Nilsson, DEVIAN form an unstoppable organic extreme Metal machine driven by a raving hunger and deadset determination.

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Website : Demiurg

Demiurg is the spawn of Paganizer/Ribspreader mainman Rogga Johansson. The band was conceived early 2006 and was initially meant to be another outlet of primitive death metal, the concept however evolved into something way more unique and exciting.

From the start of this project the legendary musician and producer Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity/Nightingale) was enrolled to produce the debut album as well as play the drums, which he did. However as Demiurg´s sound evolved the need for a truly great drummer arose and thus Ed Warby of Gorefest, Hail Of Bullets stepped in.

Ed is arguably one of the very best death metal drummers in the world, and in Demiurg he displays exactly why this statement is true. With Ed firmly placed on the drum stool Dan Swanö could concentrate on what he does best besides achieving a monstrous sound; playing guitars and arranging keyboards. To top off the mix of musicians and add the last drop of magic to the band one of the best vocalists in the Swedish metal scene was enlisted. Pär Johansson of Satariel Fame will handle all clean vocal parts, as well as some of the higher growling in Demiurg

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Website : The EssenEss Project

Steve Smyth became widely known after joining the metalband Nevermore, among others. Steve's career started back in 1996 when he joined the Bay Area powermetal band Vicious Rumors. Steve stayed with V.R. until 1999 and participated on the albums 'Something Burning' and 'Cyberchrist'. Steve then moved on to play with Testament as a tour guitarist and he worked with Eric Peterson on his black metal project Dragonlord. Steve contributed on both the Dragonlord albums 'Rapture' (2001) and 'Black Wings of Destiny' (2005).

In the past years Steve has been working on and off on this first solo album which was released on November 5 2007 via Two Louder Music. This effort was named 'The EssenEss Project', it is a collaboration between guitarist Steve Smyth, bass player Steve Hoffman and drummer Atma Anur (Cacophony, Jason Becker, Greg Howe, Ritchie Kotzen, Tony MacAlpine). To start with, I can tell you this: this instrumental album is a seventy-minute journey by three extremely talented musicians. Their sound can be described as a mix of rock, jazz, fusion and metal, but above all this it is progressive and laden with experimental breaks, blending all elements into a solid opus.

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Website : Mercenary

Mercenary is a six-piece metal band from Denmark that combines both power metal and melodic death metal genres, and in their earlier work thrash metal; however, they are simply "tagged" as a melodic death metal band by many. Mercenary was formed in Aalborg, Denmark, in 1991. After the release of two demos, Domicile (1993) and Gummizild (1994), they were able to sign with Black Day Records, and released a four-song EP, ‘Supremacy’ (1996). In 1997, they were signed to the Danish label Serious Entertainment, and a year later they released their full-length debut, ‘First Breath’.

Mercenary’s latest effort ‘Architect Of Lies’ came out on March 21, 2008 and to promote the new release the band recently toured Europe together with headliner Death Angel, so plenty questions for guitarist Jacob Molbjerg to answer.

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Website : Exciter

In 1978 the band Hell Razor was formed in Ottawa ON,Canada. At that time the band consisted of John Ricci (guitars), Dan Beehler (drums) and Allan James Johnson (bass). In 1980 they changed their name to Exciter and recorded a demo which they then sent to Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records. Varney included one song from it, "World War III", on the compilation album US Metal Volume II in 1982. Shortly after that Exciter were signed to Shrapnel Records. In 1983 they released their debut album, ‘Heavy Metal Maniac’.

Now, 25 years later the band recently released their latest album 'Thrash Speed Burn’ through Massacre records, so we have plenty of questions for John Ricci, the only original member left in the band!!!

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Website : Deranged

Deranged, one of the few Swedish death metal bands that came out during the early nineties that have always done their own kind of no remorse showing, intense and truly brutal death metal. No matter what other bands around was and is doing, you can be sure that Deranged will always deliver the most brutal and violent death metal man can create! Deranged has been around since 1991 has now received an almost "cult" alike status among the worldwide death metal scene as being one of the most, if not the most brutal and intense death metal bands man has ever experienced. The kind of band that might destroy themselves but they’ll never sell out!

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Website : Don Airey

On February 25, Airey steps into the spotlight’s full glare as his second solo album, ‘A Light In The Sky’, is released via Mascot Records. Twenty years have slipped by since ‘K2: Tales Of Triumph And Tragedy’.  For ‘A Light In The Sky’, Airey has gathered together two separate rhythm sections – the aforementioned Laurence Cottle teaming up on the more complex tracks with groovemeister Darrin Mooney, drummer of both Primal Scream and Gary Moore’s band  – while Chris Childs (bass) and Gary ‘Harry’ James (drums) from British rockers Thunder proceed to stampede over all the rest. Thunder’s Danny Bowes also drops by to impressively belt out the lyrics of ‘Love You Too Much’. The other vocal tracks (‘Shooting Star’, ‘Endless Night’ and ‘A Light in the Sky’) are handled by Carl Sentance, who began his career with the band Persian Risk alongside Phil Campbell of Motörhead, before joining the solo band of Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler. To most people, Sentance was last seen fronting Krokus.

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Website : Sworn Enemy

SWORN ENEMY is a crossover metalcore band from New York City, formed in 1997 as Mindset, a product of the extremely expansive and influential New York Hardcore scene. Since its inception the band has centered around vocalist Sal Lococo and guitarist Lorenzo Antonucci. The band played shows anywhere they could, making an incredible name for themselves in a very short time. In 2001 the band released their debut album ‘Negative Outlook’ on Jamey Jasta's Stillborn Records. The record was a brutal mix of old school hardcore punk and new school breakdowns and attitude, and it quickly gained the band attention in the entire hardcore scene. In 2003 the band released ‘As Real As It Gets’, it was clear that the band was expanding their style as the CD featured a large thrash metal influence, as well as abrasive, near-black metal styled vocals on Sal's part. The new style and worldwide distribution led a large number of heavy metal fans to Sworn Enemy, as did tours with bands such as Anthrax.

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Website : Heaven Shall Burn

“Iconoclast (Part1: The Final Resistance)” was recorded and produced at the Rape Of Harmonies Studios in 2007 by guitarists Maik Weichert and Alexander Dietz while being co-produced by Patrick W. Engel and Ralf Müller. Heaven Shall Burn then went back to Tue Madsen to have “Iconoclast” mixed and mastered. As with their previous records Heaven Shall Burn are not solely about intense and heavy music, but they are lyrically exposing a dedicated, socially aware and politically committed attitude.

With a story about the “Iconoclast’s” and a new record under their belt, HEAVEN SHALL BURN will strike hard in 2008. Therefore we had a little chat with drummer Matthias Voigt, so here we go.

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Website : The Agony Scene

THE AGONY SCENE is a Metalcore band from Tulsa, Oklahoma USA, whose musical style is a combination of thrash metal and hardcore. The band has released three albums, one on Solid State Records, one on Roadrunner Records, and one on Century Media Records. Delving ever deeper into the loathsome and hellish world of singer Mike Williams’ mind, The Agony Scene is firing on all cylinders on its inspired and lovingly titled Century Media debut, ‘Get Damned’ , produced by Andreas Magnusson (Black Dahlia Murder, Scarlet) and set for a January 21 release date. If you missed out on the first two albums, you’ll want to hear this third, most mature and diverse offering from Tulsa, Oklahoma’s finest purveyors of corrosive hardcore.

 
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Website : Nifelheim

NIFELHEIM was formed in 1990 by Tyrant ("bestial holocaust bass/guitar"), Demon ("pounding disaster drums") and Hellbutcher ("death vomit vocals"). Soon they were also joined by guitarist Morbid Slaughter and hellish orgies of drunken debauchery and deviant behaviour sometimes were interrupted with rehearsals.

And now finally the fourth studio album is finished, the new album ‘Envoy Of Lucifer’ is not polluted by any modern influences from the awful 1990s or shitty present decade, and once again even darker and more aggressive than ever before!!

 
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Website : Mystic Prophecy

With their debut album “Vengeance” MYSTIC PROPHECY seemed to fill in a gap within the scene, receiving great reviews all over the globe. Especially vocalist R.D. Liapakis (Valleys’s Eve) makes them being something special, his both rough and melodic voice gives their music a very special feeling. With the addition of star-guitar player Gus G. (Dream Evil), the band found the right member to take their music to another level. The basis for all this is done by the swedish drummer Dennis Ekdahl (Raise Hell) and former Stormwitch bass player Martin Albrecht. Clearly influenced by such old-school bands as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Queensrÿche, Mystic Prophecy will delight metal fans looking for a link back to '80s metal.

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Website : For Selena And Sin

The story of For Selena and Sin begins in 2004. Two gentlemen, Pasi and Teemu, had the idea to create more calm, more emotional, more pop/rock influenced music than what they'd ever done before. Now it was time to make it happen and For Selena and Sin was born.

The band was excited to release their first album and started working on new songs. In the process singer Sini left the band and Annika, with a talented beautiful voice, stepped in with enthusiasm. In the Autumn of 2006 the band entered Studio Watercastle to record the debut album entitled Overdosed On You. It took almost half a year of determination to finish the 10 songs. Despite all the ups and down during the recordings, the band finally achieved what they had in mind: a killer debut album.

The future of For Selena and Sin seems bright, though full of desperation that's an inspiration to make music, music that will find a way to your heart with emotion and honesty. FSAS is ready and willing to offer you Overdosed On You...

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Website : Saxon

Saxon was one of the early leaders of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, along with Iron Maiden and Def Leppard. The band was formed in Barnsley in 1977 by vocalist Biff Byford, guitarists Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn, bassist Steve Dawson, and drummer Pete Gill. Originally calling themselves Son of a Bitch, they soon decided to find a more subtle name, settling on Saxon. Like many young metal bands of the day, Saxon found it difficult to land a record deal in post-punk England, but eventually signed with French-based Carrere Records. Though Saxon's 1979 self-titled debut album was marred by a lightweight production job, the band built a strong following touring Britain as support group to Motörhead and Nazareth. The band capitalized on this exposure with their sophomore effort the following year. Wheels of Steel featured a much heavier, metallic sound which finally did their songs justice. The album was immediately heralded as a NWOBHM classic by fans and critics alike and the band was apparently on their way.

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Website : Darkthrone

In 1986, Norwegians Gylve Nagell, Ted Skjellum, Ivar Enger, and Dag Nilsen formed the band Black Death. Just prior to their first release, Soulside Journey, the band changed its name to Darkthrone. With guidance from their friend Euronymus, of the famed Mayhem, Darkthrone decided it was time for a new, darker image. Like their black metal cohorts they covered their faces in corpse paint and changed their names to represent the evilness of their music. Nagell became Fenriz, Skjellum became Nocturno Culto, and Enger adopted the name Zephyrous. Nilsen left the band but not until after recording the bass parts for their third album, ‘Ablaze In The Northern Sky’. ‘Ablaze’ established Darkthrone as a genre originator along with other Scandinavian black metal bands such as Mayhem, Emperor, and Satyricon.

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Website : Tokyo Dragons

Tokyo Dragons are a London-based hard rock band. They have achieved success in the UK and worldwide after having released a successful album and touring with bands such as Nashville Pussy, Status Quo, Do Me Bad Things and Winnebago Deal.

They appeared on Breaking Point, an MTV2 program (sponsored by Island Records in which ten bands were documented going through the process of being spotted, courted and then signed to a recording contract. The Tokyo Dragons were signed and recorded Give Me The Fear at Rockfield Studios for Island Records in June 2004.

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Website : Avatar

Avatar, Sweden’s new metal export are now up to date with their second album ”Schlacht” that came out in Europe on October 24th. ”Schlacht” is recorded at Gain Studio, Gothenburg, Sweden and produced by Markus Tagaris. The debut album ”Thoughts of no tomorrow” was released in Europe 2006 and reached top 3 on the metal album charts in Sweden.
 
The band made two European tours in 2006 and supported bands like Stone Sour, Hardcore Superstar and Evergrey to name a few. The big break came when Avatar was picked by In Flames to support them on their sold out Scandinavian tour in 2007.

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Website : Endstille

Endstille is a black metal band from Germany. It was founded in 2000 by L Wachtfels (guitar), Mayhemic Destructor (drums), Iblis (vocals) and Cruor (bass) in Kiel. L. Wachtfels and Mayhemic Destructor had previously played in the band Tauthr, while Iblis and Cruor came from the band Octoria. They describe their music as “ugliest aggressive black metal with the fire-speed of a MG42 and the power of heavy ship-artillery”. The lyrics refer, to a large extent, to personal experiences and opinions of the band members. In its self-manifestation, the group refers to well-known German weapons from the time of World War II. This, in addition to the band's lyrics, is for many critics an indication of a right-wing extremist affinity within the band. Endstille clearly dissociates itself from such labels, explains to have no sympathies for right-wing ideas and says black metal "is in its principle unpolitical".

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Website : Helloween

German melodic metallers HELLOWEEN were busy working on their twelfth studio album until the end of August, and are now ready to release more details about the CD. Entitled "Gambling With The Devil", the regular album consists of eleven songs (plus an intro, spoken by SAXON's Biff Byford). For their many faithful fans, there will also be a limited first edition (40,000 units in a digipak with an embossed and stamped slipcase to be released in Europe, and 10,000 units in a jewel case in the U.S.) with a bonus CD featuring two extra tracks, the video for the first single "As Long As I Fall", and a "making-of" of the video, including interview sequences. As a special highlight, the first edition includes a scratch ticket with an exciting puzzle, as described in detail on the HELLOWEEN homepage.

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Website : Will Haven

In 1995, Will Haven, named after a fictional, self-created character, formed and released a six-track demo. The band was formed from members of Sock, a band that was formed with Shaun Lopez of Far. Will Haven's debut self-titled, seven-track EP was released in 1996, to positive reviews. 1997 saw the release of full-length ‘El Diablo’ bringing them increasing attention and a growing fanbase. In 1999, they released ‘WHVN’, arguably their heaviest album to date. In 2001, the band released the critically-acclaimed album ‘Carpe Diem’, which saw a world-tour promotion, headlining shows in the US, UK, and Japan, and playing the Vans Warped Tour in Australia.

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Website : Overkill

Since forming in 1980, OVERKILL has put out over 20 albums. Despite various lineup changes, the band has never gone on hiatus and has continued to stay true to the metal genre it helped create. With Megaforce Records and their management company led by Jonny and Marsha Zazula, who were responsible for the early careers of such bands as Metallica, Anthrax and Ministry, among many others. Overkill released three albums on Megaforce Records before making the jump to Atlantic Records where a string of critically lauded albums, including 1991's quintessential "Horroscope", solidified Overkill as one of the best metal bands of all time. In the past few years, the band has released such gems as ‘Killbox 13’ (2003) and ‘ReliXIV’ (2005).

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Website : Ankla

ANKLA was formed in 2001 by former Puya guitarist Ramón Ortiz, in his desire to break away from his previous band's nu metal style. The band independently released a self titled 7-track EP in 2002, produced by Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga. In April, 2006, the band announced that they had signed with Bieler Bros. Records. Their debut album ‘Steep Trails’ was produced by renowned producer Bob Marlette, and was released on July 25, 2006 in the USA.

On August 19, 2006, bassist Edgar Gonzalez suffered a seizure during a concert at Mokena, Illinois. The band later parted ways with Gonzalez due to his health concerns. In December, 2006, Ortíz announced that J.P. Soars would take over bass duties full time.
 
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Website : Mustasch

Mustasch´s latest accomplishment `Latest Version Of The Truth´ is packed with energetic rock ´n roll, stoner rock and 70´s heavy metal along the lines of bands such as Black Sabbath, Danzig and My Sister´s Machine. Singer Ralf Gyllenhammar´s adds extra flavour to the Mustasch sound with his Ian Astbury-like voice (The Cult).

Armed with this new album (which has been available through Regain Records since May 21), Mustasch is ready for an international break-through. 'Latest Version Of The Truth´ was recorded with Tobias Lindell at Bohus Sound Studios and mastered by the impeccable Vlado Meller (Audioslave, Metallica, Slayer) at Sony Music Studios, New York.

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Website : Kamelot

On March 21st, Kamelot announced on its official website the release dates for ‘Ghost Opera’, their upcoming album, through SPV / Steamhammer Records. The dates are set for June 4th in Europe. ‘Ghost Opera’ was recorded and mixed at Gate Studios and Pathway Studios in Wolfsburg with producers Sascha Paeth and Miro.

Recently we were called by Roy Khan, so with a new album coming out in a couple of weeks we had a lot of questions for him, so here you read what he had to tell us.

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Website : Mastery

MASTERY’s debut album, ‘Lethal Legacy’, was recently released through Sanctuary Records in Europe and the album has been receiving major buzz within the metal community with praise from Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles and Metal Maniacs who said, “While Lethal Legacy pays homage to the classic bay-area thrash of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s with bands like Testament, Forbidden, Vio-lence and Metallica, it doesn’t sound as if the band are pinning for the glory days.”


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Website : McQueen

McQueen are a four piece Brighton based, all female rock group and signed a worldwide deal with Demolition Records to release their debut album, ‘Break The Silence’. This album was recorded in sections in between a healthy touring schedule that has spanned the last two and a half years. The album features a number of tracks mixed by Queen Of The Stone Age/Tool producer Joe Barressi, who took time out to mix McQueen tracks in between other duties.


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Website : Napalm Death

No Mercy 2007 is the peacefully setting, where we get the chance to interview the grindcore master Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway from Napalm Death himself. After waiting anxiously for half an hour we're taken down to the dressing room, where we disturb Barney while he was talking to a girl. Clearly not expecting us, he apologies to the girl but says that he really has to do the interview. So we settle down on the little chairs and have a little chat.

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Website : Thought Chamber

On their debut release ‘Angular Perceptions’, American newcomers Thought Chamber have crafted a technically brilliant progressive metal album which will excite fans of the genre. Listeners will recognize the familiar vocals of Enchant front man Ted Leonard fronting the band. In a world where it’s hard to find anything original, in which nothing and nobody is really innovative, newcomers Thought Chamber manage to draw attention right from the start with their debut album “Angular Perceptions”. Their intelligent brand of progressive metal is highly complex while showing great variation. At the same time, it sounds like a coherent collection of songs.

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Website : Satyricon

At the turn of the year 1991/92 black metal still seems to be unknown and non-existant to most people in Norway. Meanwhile, Norwegian underground activity is extensive. One of the very active and ambitious bands bears the name Satyricon. In 1993 they released their first album, ‘Dark Medieval Times’; and starting a black metal sub-genre dubbed "medieval metal." The album showed off the fascination Satyricon had with the Middle Ages, along with the raw black metal with blastbeats produced by Frost mixed with acoustic guitar and flute. On the next album ‘The Shadowthrone’ this medieval spirit was preserved.

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Website : Gorefest

In the summer of 2004 negotiations to re-release the entire Gorefest back catalogue resulted in the band reforming. And so after a 6 year hiatus Gorefest is back in its original mark II line-up. The band appeared at selected festivals such as Dynamo Open Air, Wacken Open Air and Graspop, after which they entered the studio to record ‘La Muerte’ in October 2005. With ‘La Muerte’ Gorefest returns to their roots and the musical direction on this album is similar to ‘False’. They produced the album all by themselves and the mixing is done by Tue Madsen from the Antfarm Studios.

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Website : Messiah's Kiss

The international power metal quartet Messiah´s Kiss is back with their 3rd release ‘Dragonheart’. The title of the album represents the soul and the style for just that - straight up, uncompromising and full power for the faithful - traditional Heavy Metal of the finest quality!

"We do what we can do best: Heavy Metal in its purest form, without any other discolorations - and ignore the ´clone attempts´ like some other musical experimentalists. That is absolutely not our style! We wouldn´t want to mix whiskey with tomato juice! We remain faithful to our roots!

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Website : Helloween

Late 2006 Helloween filmed and recorded shows in Bulgaria , Tokyo and São Paulo for their forthcoming DVD. ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 - Live On 3 Continents’ This will be accompanied by a new live album; the second to feature Andi Deris as frontman. The album bears the title ‘Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 - Live In São Paulo’. These new releases are scheduled for release on February 23^rd 2007.

Recently I had the chance to ask singer Andi Deris some questions about Helloween’s new live album, so here we go!!!

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Website : Rose Tattoo

Aussie hard rock combo Rose Tattoo was formed in Sydney in 1976 by ex-Buffalo guitarist Peter Wells; with the additions of former Buster Brown vocalist Angry Anderson, guitarist Mick Cocks, bassist Ian Rilen and drummer Dallas "Digger" Royal, the group made their public bow on New Year's Eve at the local club Chequers, which several years earlier launched the career of AC/DC. In 1978 the group signed to Albert Productions; their debut single "Bad Boy for Love" was written by Rilen, who left the lineup prior to the record's release. Anderson's onetime Buster Brown bassist Geordie Leech was recruited for Rose Tattoo's self-titled debut LP; after nearly three years of relentless touring, they issued the follow-up, ‘Assault And Battery’, in 1981.

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Website : Harum Scarum

On January 12 Canadian melorockers Harem Scarem released their new album which has been available for purchase in Japan since november 22. The band’s eleventh studio album is entitled ‘Human Nature’ and it is safe to say that this album has a significantly more melodic sound than its predecessor ‘Overload’. Through the years Harem Scarem has proven itself more than once in the AOR scene with classic albums such as ‘Mood Swings’ (1993) with its solid, melodic rock sound, varying melodies and strong riffs, followed by ‘Voice Of Reason’ (1995). The following albums were characterized by a melodic hard rock sound, even leaning towards modern pop and rock bands.

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Website: Cronian

How did you launch into writing the material for 'Terra'? Where did the inspiration/ideas come from?

To actually write the songs didn't really take too much time. We used most of the years since "the start" to mentally prepare the whole thing. We kind of knew what musical elements we wanted to bring forth in the music, but to find the formula of balancing everything was the big challenge for us. Inspirations- everything and nothing I guess.........  I don't really have a clue, I just make my music.

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Website : Fireball Ministry

In 2005, the group entered Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 West, with Mike Terry (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Halford) engineering and again with Raskulinecz producing. The resulting “Their Rock Is Not Our Rock” showcases the definitive FIREBALL MINISTRY sound: sneering riffs, driving rhythms, hooky harmonies, catchy choruses and a classic-rock sensibility. After this release the band has toured the USA like crazy the past months with bands like Nevermore, Opeth, CKY, H.I.M. and Skindred.

Some weeks ago I had the chance to ask guitarist and founding member Emily J. Burton from Fireball Ministry to ask her some questions, her is what she had to say.

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Website: Maroon

In late October 2005 they finally took off to Denmark to record the new album with Jacob Hansen in his Hansen Studios (Mercenary, Fear My Thoughts). During the recording process their label mates Mercenary popped in to add some back-up vocals and keyboards while some of Roger Miret’s (Agnostic Front) unique shouting was captured spontaneously during the Persistance Tour. While the band was busy on the road, Paul A. Romano (Mastodon, Trivium) was taking care of the record's visual aspects to assure it had the right impact. No matter how much they gravitated towards some of the heaviest material of their still-young career, MAROON still kept their political awareness and involvement in an outspoken lifestyle - “This is the fight for the voiceless minority…” (24 HourHate). Welcome Annihilation… 

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Website:
Backyard Babies

How did you launch into writing the album?

Dregen: “We have a problem with writing songs on the road, there’s a hundred other things that are more fun to do after the show than writing songs! But on the other hand, we collect a lot of ideas for songs, the whole inspiration for most of our songs comes from stuff that happens on the road. We went home in September and we didn’t have many songs but we had already booked the studio time from January 2^nd onwards. Sometimes it’s good because if you have too much time to write an album you end up over-analyzing stuff, we just went with gut-feeling.”

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Website: Sick Of It All

It took you guys some years until this new album was released, why did we have to wait for so long?

We could have put it out at the end of 2005 but we wanted to take our time. And we’re celebrating our 20^th anniversary this year so we thought that would be perfect timing. It gave us a lot more time to write and we made a demo. Danny from Biohazard let us use his studio for free so we had the time to really get everything just right, after the songs were recorded we took a couple of weeks to let them sink in and then we went back to do make the final changes.

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Website: DragonForce

Many things have been written about Dragonforce but can you tell us a little about the history of the band?

Herman: “Nothing exciting really, we played together for the first time in September 1999, me and Sam and ZP have been in the band since then.” Sam: “We met up in London and knew each other from another band we were looking for someone that could sing normally, and we found ZP through an advertisement. He played in a black metal band before that. Zippy was the only one that we could find so we had to keep him haha! He was alright anyway so it worked out quite good in the end. And then obviously it’s easy to find a bass player, and that’s it really.”

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Website: Evergrey

Recently Henrik Danhage guitar player of the Swedish band Evergrey visited Amsterdam to answer us some questions about there new release ‘Monday Morning Apocalypse’. The new album was recorded with producers Sanken Sandquist and Stefan Glaumann, who already worked with bands like Rammstein, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. Furthermore it’s already two years ago that the previous album ‘The Inner Circle’ cam out, so there we already have some questions ready.

It took you guys two years for the new album. How did you launch into writing the material for ‘Monday Morning Apocalypse’ after ‘The Inner Circle,’ did ideas come easily so that you just had to write them down or was it more of a careful composing thing?
The thing is that the DVD and live album swallowed a lot of time, we spent 6 to 8 weeks writing the songs, then we went into the studio for 6 weeks and then the album got mixed in 20 days. It was kind of quick for us; the last one took 6 months.

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Website: Witchery

WITCHERY’s spell was cast upon our earthly existence when four members splintered off Satanic Slaughter in 1997: Jensen (later with The Haunted), Richard Corpse, Toxine and Mique. Before recording their debut-album ‘Restless And Dead’, Jensen met Sharlee D'Angelo (Arch Enemy, Mercyful Fate) and got him on board for the unholy alliance.

I think this question has been asked a million times already but, why did we have to wait almost 5 years for this new album?

The reason to the delay is mainly that both our labels Necropolis and MFN disappeared in the last few years. We recorded this new album in august 2004, but it took until now to get a contract sorted, work out the release date etc etc. But I can promise you there will be no more waits like that again for Witchery.

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Website: Naglfar

The band is currently on tour in Europe with headliner Dark Funeral to promote their latest effort ’Pariah’. Just after the band played their show in the small hall of 013, in Tilburg we had the change to have a little chat with the whole band in their dressing room.

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Website: Perzonal War
 

On a special press day in the Bosuil in Weert we are given the opportunity to chat with Perzonal War about their new album ‘When Times Turn Red’. We talk with vocalist “Metti” Zimmer and drummer Martin Buchwalder who has also produced the new album.

First of all, can you give us a brief history of the band?
Sure, we started the band in 1996 and up till now we have recorded five albums, ‘The Inside’ in 1998; ‘New Time Chaos’ in 2000 and ‘Different but the same in 2002. The first two albums were released via our previous label and due to contractual obligations among other things we had to change our name from Personal War to Perzonal War.

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Website: Dark Fortress
 

Recently Century Media signed the German Black Metal band Dark Fortress and soon after that they released the fourth album from the band called ‘Séance’. Now “Séance” is the next step to establish Dark Fortress not only as one of Germany’s most hopeful black metal acts, but as one that does not have to fear the international competition. Evolving around the conceptual idea of the direct contrast between the here and now and the hereafter, the fragility of human existence with its most striking weaknesses - ignorance, arrogance and false illusions is confronted with the crass finality of death. The fact that ‘Séance’ is a diversified, frighteningly extreme and highly creative effort, that should not be ignored. So when we were asked to do an interview with guitarist V. Santura we didn’t hesitate for a minute and ask him some questions.

Website: Trail Of Tears

On January 22, 2006, we find ourselves in the Melkweg in Amsterdam to attend the Music Against Cancer festival. A musical benefit put together by Eric Gijsen-Muziekprodukties in order to raise funds for the Dutch Cancer Foundation (KWF). All the bands on the bill are donating a show today, the Norwegian band Trail Of Tears will headline the festival. Tonight will be the final show of a four-day tour of the Netherlands. Prior to the show we are given the opportunity to interview the obviously fatigued singer Ronny Thorsen.