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ISSUE 307

DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH

Halford and Iommi bro down in Birmingham. We talk Priest’s new album, Sabbath’s retirement and what it means to be metal in 2018.

SEPULTURA

Two decades since Max walked away from the band he helped found, we get the full story on why the original Sepultura line-up fell apart.

LOVEBITES

Step inside the scene that spawned the Japanese power metal quintet.

SLAYER

Dave Mustaine pays tribute to the thrash legends as they announce their global farewell tour.

METALHAMMER.COM 3

TWO LEGENDS. ONE INTERVIEW.

t Metal Hammer, we deal in bringing you the kind of events no one else in this game can – and this month is no exception. For the very first time ever, we brought Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford into one room, set up a dictaphone and pressed record. The results were candid, inspiring, heartwarming and occasionally hilarious, and you can’t afford to miss it on page 30. And how about that new Priest album? Holy shit. It’s not all about metal’s living legends, though. As with every month, we strive to bring you the most exciting bands in the world right now, which is why over these pages you’ll read amazing interviews with the likes of Vile Creature, Conjurer, Turnstile, Lovebites, Anna Von Hausswolf and more – all working to push our world into exciting new directions and change the discourse of heavy music for the better. Throw in features with everyone from Primordial, Sepultura and Andrew W.K. to Between The Buried And Me, Dave Mustaine and Alestorm, and you’re looking at a genre that is firing on all cylinders, from the underground to arenas, right around the world. We’re incredibly proud to be the first point of call for all of it. Cheers for all your support and…

IN YOUR ISSUE

10 MYLES KENNEDY

68 CONJURER

12 ORANGE GOBLIN

70 ROCKABUL

14 ASKING ALEXANDRIA

74 TURNSTILE

48 LEGEND OF THE SEAGULLMEN

78 ALBUMS

How the death of his father influenced new solo record Year Of The Tiger. Zombie biker gangs! Alien serial killers! Some kind of wolf! We took a trip to the studio to see how album number nine’s shaping up. OH. MY. GOD. It’s the untold story behind The Final Episode. Tool’s Danny Carey and Mastodon’s Brent Hinds team up for a sea-themed supergroup. It’s shore to be oceans of fun.

54 ANDREW W.K.

When it’s time to party… Andrew W.K. has a good think about it. We head to Chicago for a serious chat.

60 BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME What would you do if you realised your dreams were being broadcasted to the world as reality TV? BTBAM have been pondering the answer.

64 ALESTORM

Yarrrrr, me hearties! Ten years after Alestorm made a splash, we find out how they’ve kept themselves afloat.

EDITÖR

One of the most exciting new bands around reveal their dark side. This new documentary follows Kabul metallers District Unknown, who faced imprisonment and death for playing the music they love. What happens when hardcore collides with 90s alt-rock? It’s good. Judas Priest, Between The Buried And Me, Myles Kennedy, Ministry, Monster Magnet, Oceans Of Slumber, Nightwish and Rolo Tomassi are among those going under the Hammer, err… hammer.

88 COOL SHIT

We hold up an eyeglass to a treasure trove of Tribulation box sets, Slayer hoodies, high-end headphones, morbid backpacks, nihilistic marshmallows, Groot speakers and much, much more.

96 LIVES

Architects bring the awe to Ally Pally, Meshuggah and Cannibal Corpse rock 70,000 Tons Of Metal, Parkway Drive hit a 10-year high Down Under, Lacuna play in a Big Top and more.

SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE HEAD TO PAGE 76 FOR MORE DETAILS

DIGITAL AND PRINT OFFERS AVAILABLE. SAVE £££ ON THE COVER PRICE!

4 METALHAMMER.COM

74 GOING UND ERG

R OU N

YOUR MONTHLY FREE EXTREME MAGAZINE

112 PRIMORDIAL

Ireland’s exhilarating rabble-rousers take aim against the modern age.

116 KAOTEON

Beirut’s freedom fighters have faced war, interrogations and more.

118 ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF

Raised on drone and black metal, Sweden’s organ-playing chanteuse is opening up a new frontier.

120 FRESH MEAT

Demonomancy, Spite, Whipstriker.

122 ALBUMS

Dark Buddha Rising, Deströyer 666, Pestilence, Venom and more.

128 LIVES

Batushka, Septicflesh, Execration.

130

METALHAMMER.COM 5

YOUR TA ISSUES THKE ON AT THE MA TTER

Albums crushing our stereo this month… plus two other legends we’d like to see united

JUDAS PRIEST MARK RUDOLPH

FIREPOWER

“Ripley and Sarah Connor fighting Terminaliens. A man can dream...” MERLIN ALDERSLADE EDITOR

TESSERACT SONDER

“Veronica Mars and Liv Moore solving all the crime.” ELEANOR GOODMAN DEPUTY EDITOR

HEILUNG OFNIR

“Alan Moore and Jaz Coleman discussing life, the universe and maths demons.” JONATHAN SELZER REVIEWS EDITOR

JUDAS PRIEST FIREPOWER

“Firefly’s Mal and Farscape’s Crichton. It’d be the most wisecracking sci fi ever.” VANESSA THORPE PRODUCTION EDITOR

MYLES KENNEDY YEAR OF THE TIGER

“Deadpool and Wolverine to erase the shit memories of their last meeting.” LEWIS SOMERSCALES ART EDITOR

As UK venues continue to close at an alarming rate, we asked you guys what we can all do to buck the trend and help our local scenes. Put short…

HOW CAN WE SAVE OUR MUSIC VENUES? I think it’s a difficult issue; property developers buy land near a venue on the cheap because of the noise, then build residential buildings, which leads to noise complaints against the venue so the venue closes, which drives up the

price of the residences. There needs to be some sort of regulation to stop this. MATTHEW BROOKS

I think the obvious thing to do is to make sure you attend shows at those small venues. It might not be the

big acts that play them, but even by going for an evening to see someone new, you might find someone you like. Even if you’re just there for a support act, it benefits the venue when you attend, buy a drink, that sort of

thing. Those places need more support than the giant arenas. NAOMI SANDERS

I think that YouTube is a major cause for this problem. People are uploading whole shows and

ROLO TOMASSI

TIME WILL DIE AND LOVE WILL BURY IT “The Rock and Will Smith starring in The Greatest Buddy Cop Movie Of All Time.” LUKE MORTON ONLINE EDITOR

JUDAS PRIEST “Scrappy-Doo and Godzuki in the ultimate shit character face-off.” DOM LAWSON EDITOR-AT-LARGE

6 METALHAMMER.COM

SIMON COOPER

FIREPOWER

YOUR SHOUT NÖEL THE TRÖLL Future PLC 1-10 Praed Mews, London W2 1QY Web: www.metalhammer.com Letters: metalhammer@futurenet.com

Editorial Editor Merlin Alderslade merlin.alderslade@futurenet.com Deputy Editor Eleanor Goodman eleanor.goodman@futurenet.com Production Editor Vanessa Thorpe vanessa.thorpe@futurenet.com Reviews and Subterranea Editor Jonathan Selzer jonathan.selzer@futurenet.com Online Editor Luke Morton luke.morton@futurenet.com Art Editor Lewis Somerscales lewis.somerscales@futurenet.com Editor in Chief Scott Rowley Senior Art Editor Brad Merrett

Venues are being hit by the cumulative effects of the smoking ban and costly alcohol legislation. Many punters now choose to drink/smoke at home rather than visit their local pub/club/ venue, because they can’t be bothered with all the hassle. This, added together with higher borrowing costs, higher rent, operational costs and no legal protection for venue operators and live music businesses that defends them from unscrupulous property developers and noise pollution issues… it’s forced many to shut up shop. If you want to keep live music alive, get off your fuckin’ arse and do something about it! Register your support for the Agent For Change campaign and make some noise with your elected representative.

Contributors Rob Barbour, Dean Brown, Cheryl Carter, Richard Chamberlain, Chris Chantler, Alec Chillingworth, Toby Cook, Ali Cooper, Joe Daly, Malcolm Dome, John Doran, Dave Everley, Jerry Ewing, Thea de Gallier, Connie Gordon, Jason Hicks, Stephen Hill, Emma Johnston, Dom Lawson, Dannii Leivers, Dave Ling, Sophie Maughan, Edwin McFee, Chris McGarel, Ken McIntyre, Joel McIver, Mörat, Tom O’Boyle, Dayal Patterson, Adam Rees, Alastair Riddell, Natasha Scharf, Holly Wright, Nik Young Art: Louise Brock Cover image John McMurtrie Photography Justin Borucki, Derek Bremner, Steve Brown, Stephanie Cabral, Duncan Everson, Mick Hutson, Will Ireland, Tina Korhonen, Marie Korner, John McMurtrie, Kevin Nixon, Jake Owens, Jeremy Saffer, James Sharrock, Travis Shinn, Frank White All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected

DONALD MACLEOD, OWNER, GLASGOW CATHOUSE

it’s like you’ve already seen it all nowadays. OK, you don’t get the full gig experience from watching a YouTube video, but it doesn’t help. DANIEL CALAMATTA

Having the properties owned by local government looking for a quick buck doesn’t help. Then when they sell them off they don’t help to replace them. Therefore, we need some legislation that protects music venues when they are sold for redevelopment where they are helped in relocating.

demotivating the grassroots music fans who can’t afford the high-value tickets, leaving the only attendees as middle-aged people with solid jobs – hardly your target demographic for building a live music fanbase. GAVIN WILSON

HAVE YOUR SAY AND JOIN THE DEBATE AT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ METALHAMMER

ADAM TURNER

On the lines of the role of local government, most are severely struggling for funds, so they ought to be encouraged to make more income from hiring out their town halls – like Islington’s Assembly Hall, for example. MIRIAM FOX

ELAINE BETTGER

I saw an international touring band do something clever last year: when they played Cambridge, they put a popular local band on as support – and played before them! More people stuck around and had more drinks, rather than sliding out after the ‘known’ band had played. Ultimately, though, we need to get out and support venues; the more support they get for rock gigs the more they will put on. Take a quick snap on your phone to promote the awesome night you’ve had to your social network! WILL RUSSELL

What would help is changing the law so that if you move in knowing a loud venue is near you, you’ve no right to demand it shuts or spends more than it can afford on insulation… but that’s not gonna happen. BEN WILLMOTT

Without a Culture Secretary who gives a shit about the current conflicts between residential properties and venues, I don’t see much that can be done. Also, the high ticket prices for the giant tours and the immediate sell-outs, followed by touting on GetMeIn etc, could be

So more promotion over a wider area would be great.

Help with publicity for small venues. I keep discovering venues by chance in nearby towns that I would have started going to ages ago if I had known they existed. I tend to only find out about them if a band I like happen to announce a gig there.

Stop building city centre flats next to established venues. Boycott any radio station or TV channels that refuses to play acts that aren’t associated with a major label or who don’t write and perform their own songs. Or, just give up, because the sad truth is not enough people care anymore because all the great unwashed really want is hip hop/EDM/talent show shite…

Advertising Media packs are available on request Commercial Director Clare Dove clare.dove@futurenet.com Group Advertising Director Mark Wright mark.wright@futurenet.com Advertising Manager Kate Colgan kate.colgan@futurenet.com Account Manager Anastasia Meldrum anastasia.meldrum@futurenet.com International Metal Hammer is available for licensing. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities International Licensing Director Matt Ellis matt.ellis@futurenet.com Subscriptions Email enquiries contact@myfavouritemagazines.co.uk UK orderline & enquiries 0344 848 2852 Overseas order line and enquiries +44 344 848 2852 Online orders & enquiries www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Head of subscriptions Sharon Todd Circulation Head of Newstrade Tim Mathers Production Head of Production Mark Constance Production Project Manager Clare Scott Advertising Production Manager Joanne Crosby Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson Production Manager Keely Miller Management Managing Director Aaron Asadi Commercial Finance Director Dan Jotcham Editorial Director Paul Newman Head of Art & Design Greg Whitaker Chairman Richard Huntingford Printed by William Gibbons & Sons Ltd on behalf of Future Distributed by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU www.marketforce.co.uk Tel: 0203 787 9060 ISSN 0955-1190 We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed, ƬƺȸɎǣˡƺƳ ǔȒȸƺɀɎȸɵ ƏȇƳ ƬǝǼȒȸǣȇƺ‫ٮ‬ǔȸƺƺ ȅƏȇɖǔƏƬɎɖȸƺِ Áǝƺ ȵƏȵƺȸ ǣȇ Ɏǝǣɀ ȅƏǕƏɿǣȇƺ ɯƏɀ ɀȒɖȸƬƺƳ and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing paper mill holds full FSC (Forest Stewardship !ȒɖȇƬǣǼ٣ ƬƺȸɎǣˡƬƏɎǣȒȇ ƏȇƳ ƏƬƬȸƺƳǣɎƏɎǣȒȇ All contents © 2018 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number ‫דזזז׎׎א‬٣ ǣɀ ȸƺǕǣɀɎƺȸƺƳ ǣȇ 0ȇǕǼƏȇƳ ƏȇƳ áƏǼƺɀِ «ƺǕǣɀɎƺȸƺƳ ȒǔˡƬƺ‫ ي‬ªɖƏɵ RȒɖɀƺً Áǝƺ ȅƫɖȸɵً ƏɎǝ BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents Ȓȸ Əȇɵ ȒɎǝƺȸ ƬǝƏȇǕƺɀ Ȓȸ ɖȵƳƏɎƺɀ ɎȒ Ɏǝƺȅِ Áǝǣɀ ȅƏǕƏɿǣȇƺ ǣɀ ǔɖǼǼɵ ǣȇƳƺȵƺȇƳƺȇɎ ƏȇƳ ȇȒɎ ƏǔˡǼǣƏɎƺƳ ǣȇ any way with the companies mentioned herein. If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions.

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NEXT MONTH: SOMETHING NEW!

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DIVINE S IG HT

ING S

MASTODON WIN A GRAMMY

“IT WAS A surreal experience. I remember holding my wife’s hand and saying to myself, ‘Just say Body Count so we can get this part over and move on to the party.’ Then they said, ‘Sultan’s Curse’ and I said, ‘Oh shit! That’s us!’ My wife screamed and started crying and we all hugged and went to the podium. For us, it’s not just an award for one song; it’s for 18 years of slugging it out, scraping and clawing our way to where we are today. It’s for everything we’ve been through as a family: not just the four of us, but all of our extended families, too. The ones nearest and dearest to us that get left behind when we’re on tour. All the musicians in my family that never got to stand up there. The people we lost along the way (it was my sister’s birthday that day.) It was for our fans for sticking with us while we try to figure ourselves out. It’s for heavy metal, and it was very emotional. I love my brothers in Mastodon and am so very proud of everything we’ve accomplished over the years without sacrificing our integrity. It made us all really happy and excited for what the future holds.” BRANN DAILOR

8 METALHAMMER.COM

GETTY

HOLY VISION MASTODON

METALHAMMER.COM 9

MYLES KENNEDY

Alter Bridge’s honey-throated frontman tells Hammer about his new solo album and what else he has planned for 2018 WORDS: JOE DALY

YOUR SOLO DEBUT IS THE 13TH STUDIO ALBUM THAT YOU’VE RECORDED. SAFE TO SAY YOU’RE NOT SUPERSTITIOUS? “Wow, I didn’t realise that! That’s crazy! Ha ha! Fortunately I’m not too superstitious, but that said, we’ll see how this plays out. It might make me superstitious if things go horribly wrong…”

WHAT MADE NOW THE RIGHT TIME TO RELEASE YOUR FIRST SOLO RECORD?

“I wanted to embark on this project years ago and I ended up recording an entire record. But that whole process took so long because I kept going back and revisiting it that I just felt like the shelf life of the material had essentially expired. So I started again. I began writing in December 2016 for what would become Year Of The Tiger.”

MOST PEOPLE ASSOCIATE YOU WITH MUCH HEAVIER MUSIC. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO TAKE A SHARP LEFT TURN INTO ACOUSTIC TERRITORY?

“As long as I can remember, I’ve been intrigued by acoustic-based music and singer-songwriters that I’ve appreciated throughout my evolution as an artist. It felt like it was time to explore that.

Also, making a hard rock record would be a little redundant. I play in Alter Bridge and I’ve played with Slash and the Conspirators, so this was a conscious effort to establish something unique.”

WHO WERE SOME OF YOUR EARLIEST ACOUSTIC INFLUENCES?

“Strangely enough, it was Zeppelin. If you listen to Zeppelin III and parts of IV, there’s a massive acoustic element. I wanted to discover what influenced them, and obviously Robert Johnson was a big one, along with a lot of those Delta blues cats. Eric Clapton was another. In the mid-90s, he came out with that Unplugged album, and again, I wondered what he fed off of, and I found these Big Bill Broonzy songs that he covered. So it was listening to contemporary people and going back and discovering what they were raised on.”

THE DOMINANT CHARACTERISTIC OF TRULY GREAT ACOUSTIC MUSIC IS THAT THE SONGS TELL A STORY… “Correct.”

“THIS ALBUM IS ABOUT LOSING MY FATHER” 10 METALHAMMER.COM

DID YOU HAVE A SENSE OF THAT WHEN YOU APPROACHED YOUR OWN MATERIAL? “Yeah, I definitely did. As the guy who’s going to be singing it, it’s got to be something that I believe in

and that resonates with me because if it’s not… if they’re just words pieced together that have no meaning, then you’ve got nothing. From an emotional standpoint, it’s got to be compelling. I essentially documented a very tough time in my evolution as a young person, which was when I lost my father, and the album tells that story. There was plenty of emotional inspiration.”

DOES THIS MEAN THAT ALTER BRIDGE IS OUT OF COMMISSION THIS YEAR? “Yeah, Alter Bridge will reconvene in 2019, so while I’m out touring Year Of The Tiger, I’ll be writing in the hotel room for Alter Bridge’s upcoming sixth release, if I’m not mistaken.”

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO TOURING THE ALBUM?

“Yes! I start in South Africa and then we’ll be doing the UK. We’re trying to build a tour and add more dates and do some more stuff in the US later. I’ll be touring a lot this year.”

IS THIS A ONE-OFF OR DO YOU SEE MORE OF THESE SOLO OUTINGS IN THE FUTURE? “I’d hope to have the opportunity to do this more in the future because it reminded me why I make music. It’s that power when you feel like you’ve stumbled onto something that’s real and everyone in the studio is firing on all cylinders. There’s really nothing quite like it.”

YEAR OF THE TIGER IS OUT MARCH 9 VIA NAPALM. MYLES HITS THE UK LATER THIS MONTH – SEE LIVE EVIL ON PAGE 107 FOR DATES

WILL IRELAND/TOTAL GUITAR

FIVE MINUTES ALONE WITH... MYLES KENNEDY

The voice of Alter Bridge is heading out on his ownâ&#x20AC;¦ temporarily, at least

METALHAMMER.COM 11

ORANGE GOBLIN

The heavy metal heroes are looking to make their deﬁnitive statement WORDS: RICH HOBSON

THE FACTS ALBUM: Nine

PRODUCER: Jaime Gomez Arellano

STUDIO: Orgone Studios, Milton Keynes

EXPECT: A riff-driven rock’n’roll soundtrack to some seriously twisted tales

BACK FROM THE Abyss was the perfect title for Orange Goblin’s eighth studio effort. After all, it was the album that put the band back on the map following a period of uncertainty at the start of the decade and saw them play some of the biggest gigs of their career. Hammer catches up with their frontman and mountain of metal, Ben Ward, to see what we can expect of record number nine, and if they’re ready to plug the Sabbath-sized gap in the heavy metal scene… LAST TIME ROUND YOU WERE MAKING THE JUMP TO BEING A FULL-TIME BAND – HOW DID THAT AFFECT HOW YOU APPROACHED THINGS?

“Unfortunately, it never worked out – we never made enough money to pay the

Making themselves at home at Orgone Studios

12 METALHAMMER.COM

bills. I think a lot of people wrote us off and wondered if that was it for us, but we wanted to make a statement that we’re still keen and as excited as we’ve ever been – even though we’re in our 40s and should know better! That’s why we’ve called the new record The Wolf Bites Back; the title is appropriate to us, and very heavy metal.”

THE PAST FOUR YEARS HAVE SEEN YOU GUYS PLAY SOME PRETTY BIG STAGES – HAS THAT INFLUENCED THE SONGWRITING ON THE NEW RECORD AT ALL? “We’ve had a fantastic few years, really. Off the back of Back From The Abyss we went around Europe with Saint Vitus, toured the United States with Down… we’ve done Download, Wacken and Resurrection Fest, and opened the main stage at Ozzfest in California – which was a real honour. We’ve not really given thought to writing new material in that time, but that always

works better for us – we work best under pressure. Often the first thing you come up with is the best.”

WHAT KIND OF LYRICAL THEMES WILL YOU BE EXPLORING ON THE NEW ALBUM?

“It’s a bit darker than stuff I’ve written before – songtitles like Sons Of Salem, Ghost Of The Primitives, Burn The Ships, Zeitgeist and Suicide Division. It’s exciting to have a crack at writing about things that interest me, whether that be zombie biker gangs or alien serial killers. I’m not one to dabble with politics; I prefer to use my lyrics as a kind of escapism. That’s what all good rock’n’roll should do.”

THE LAST RECORD HAD THE SONG THE DEVIL’S WHIP, WHICH WAS DISTINCTLY MOTÖRHEAD IN ITS VIBE. CAN WE EXPECT ANY MORE OF THAT THIS TIME OUT?

“THIS IS GOING TO BE DARKER THAN BEFORE”

“That one is basically Ace Of

IN THE STUDIO ORANGE GOBLIN

WHAT’S RO CK AND BLOWN ED O OU UR RT W INY ORLD MIN DS?

1. IOMMI AND HALFORD ARE OUR NEW FAVOURITE BFFs

We knew uniting two Metal Gods would be special, but you cannot afford to miss this month’s epic cover feature.

2. FIREPOWER RIPS

Not only that, but Judas Priest have just casually made their best album in almost three decades. Horns up!

3. #SHEROCKS RULED

Thanks to everyone who supported our month-long campaign celebrating women in the metal scene. We’re just getting started.

4. METAL IS ROMANTIC

Just ask the couple who got engaged in the circle pit at Architects’ Ally Pally show last month. Awwww! Orange Goblin (left to right): Martyn Millard, Ben Ward, Joe Hoare, Chris Turner

5. CODE ORANGE WON’T TAKE YOUR SHIT

Ask Of Mice & Men’s Alan Ashby, who was told to “eat shit” after making a sarcastic comment about CO’s Grammy nomination. Oop.

6. HAMMER TOUR IS SO CLOSE!

And on that note, Code Orange will be main support on the epic Hammersponsored Trivium tour, which kicks off in a matter of weeks! Got your tix?

s business

Metal is a ser iou

Spades with different words, ha ha ha! This time we’ve got a song called Renegade, which was written almost as a tribute, because Lemmy was a massive loss, but so too were ‘Philthy’ Animal Taylor and ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke. Its a homage to the classic three-piece line-up; for me, they’re probably the greatest band of all time. I was cheeky enough to ask Phil Campbell to play a solo on the album and he’s agreed, which will help keep that spirit going.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK PRODUCER JAIME GOMEZ ARELLANO HAS BROUGHT TO THE ORANGE GOBLIN SOUND?

“We’re really good friends with Gomez and he’s got a stellar CV. He did the recent Grave Pleasures and Paradise Lost records, he’s done Cathedral,

7. DEVIN IS TAKING A BREAK

The Goblin boys are in safe hands with Jaime Gomez Arellano(right)

Ghost… the who’s who of success stories of the past five to 10 years. He’s also got all the old analogue tapes, so we’re recording it all organically – as opposed to the last record which was digital – which has lent the drums a warm, John Bonham-type feel. He can pick up on a band’s strong points and emphasise them… which is why I’ll probably be right down in the mix on the vocals!”

THE WOLF BITES BACK IS DUE FOR RELEASE IN THE SUMMER VIA CANDLELIGHT/ SPINEFARM RECORDS

Well, from the Devin Townsend Project anyway. So just the eight other things on the go…

8. WE’RE READY FOR NEW GHOST If you haven’t read our chat with mainman Tobias about the new album yet, head to metalhammer.com now.

9. THE HAMMER FAMILY RULES

Join our Readers’ Facebook Group to join our community and have your say.

10. WE ALL NEED TO TALK

We were gutted to hear that Shields guitarist George Christie took his own life last month. If you’re struggling, please reach out to someone, and if you think someone else is struggling reach out to them. You’re never alone.

METALHAMMER.COM 13

THE FINAL EPISODE (LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CHANGE THE CHANNEL) Ben Bruce remembers the track that ushered in a new era in heavy music 803%4 %"//** -&*7&34 t *--6453"5*0/ ."3, -&"3:

IT WAS WRITTEN IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES OVER SEVERAL YEARS

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was written all over the place. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the first songs I ever wrote for Asking Alexandria, 10 or 11 years ago. I remember I was still in Dubai when I wrote the main, long, chuggy bass riff. I wrote the chorusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chord progression in my previous band. Then I hooked up with James [Cassells, drums] and Danny [Worsnop, vocals] and mixed and matched bits and bobs that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been writing over the years and it just turned into this monster of a song that launched our career.â&#x20AC;?

IT LAUNCHED DANNYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CAREER AS A VOCALIST â&#x20AC;&#x153;Danny was the guitarist with me and Cameron. There we were with three guitarists, no bassist and a drummer and when we went into the studio to record The Final Episode we realised we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have anyone to lay down any vocals. We were like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Who wants to give it a try?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; So Danny went into the vocal booth just to see what would happen and when he came out we were like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Right, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the singer of the band.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

IT WAS THE PERFECT WAY TO INTRODUCE US

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It showcased a little bit of everything. Back when we were younger, it showcased Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technical ability behind the drumkit, it had a big, memorable chorus, it was fast, aggressive, heavy, it had a synth break. We wanted to introduce the world to the whole band, not just a snippet of us, and that song captured all the different elements of us at the time.â&#x20AC;?

IT DEFINED A GENRE

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a genre-defining single and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel like I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say that. We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t write it going in there thinking, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Yes, this is going to change the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, but it really did for the small corner of the scene that we were in at the time. There are a lot of young bands that came out listening to that single and Stand Up And Scream and it sculpted their careers, and for me, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s amazing.â&#x20AC;?

THE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;TEA-SMASHINGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; VIDEO WAS UNFORGETTABLE

â&#x20AC;&#x153;WE WENT INTO THE STUDIO WITHOUT A SINGERâ&#x20AC;? 14 METALHAMMER.COM

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t particularly a big-budget video, but it was our first video and we were

excited to see the behind-the-scenes magic. Then you get there and you realise thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not really much magic, just a bunch of dudes in a warehouse headbanging. The cups of tea actually stick out more than anything because we were like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Wait, why are we drinking tea while weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re headbanging in a warehouse?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; The label were like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re English, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what English people do.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even tea, it was Pepsi. We were like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;This doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even look like tea, it looks like coffee.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand it but we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to argue with the label, we were afraid that if we argued they might pull the plug. So we were like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Yeah, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smash cups of tea!â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

IT CHANGED OUR LIVES FOREVER

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It will forever be the song that launched our career. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t foresee us taking it out of the set. It took us to all these different places around the world. Even now, 10 years later, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll go onstage and no matter where we go thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a venue filled with people that know and love that song. The volume in the room increases, everyone knows what song it is and for that split second, you travel back in time to when you first heard it and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s this overwhelming sense of nostalgia throughout the venue. It holds a very special place in our hearts.â&#x20AC;?

ASKING ALEXANDRIA IS OUT NOW VIA SUMERIAN. ASKING ALEXANDRIA PLAY DOWNLOAD THIS JUNE

THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG ASKING ALEXANDRIA

METALHAMMER.COM 15

VINCENT BENNETT THE ACACIA STRAIN

The Massachusetts marvel has a passion for Nintendo classics. Player one is ready… WORDS: ALI COOPER

VINCENT, WHERE IS THIS 8-BIT VIDEO GAME DUNGEON OF YOURS?

“This is my dining room, so everything I own is in my line of sight; that way I can walk past and play a game whenever I want. You’d think my friends would come over more often to play them but I think they’re afraid I’m gonna whoop their asses in every game! Ha ha ha!”

WHEN DID THIS GAME OBSESSION BEGIN? “The Nintendo gaming system came out when I was young and the first game I remember playing was Duck Hunt. It wasn’t even controller-based – it was just a light gun and you had to shoot ducks on the screen. I was hooked on this interaction with a television, which I thought you just watched, but games entertain you and let you be part of the entertainment yourself. Gaming was a family affair in our house – my whole family would spend countless hours sat around the TV seeing how far we could get in Mario Brothers, a game which now feels relegated to children.

crazy about it – I’m in my 30s playing a console almost as old as me.”

SO IS THIS CORNER A CONSTANT NOSTALGIA TRIP FOR YOU?

WHAT WAS THE MOST ELUSIVE ITEM IN YOUR STASH?

“It’s helping me relive the good memories I had as a kid. When you’re eight years old, you don’t necessarily have the hundreds of dollars to spend on consoles and the 800 Nintendo production titles in the world. I didn’t get to play all of them but now I’m an adult that can afford them, so why not? At least I know there’s an end to my collecting because once I have all 800, I can stop. I don’t think I’ll ever reach it, though – not because of the expense, but the availability of rare games.”

WHICH PIECE WOULD YOUR 10-YEAR-OLD SELF LOVE TO HAVE OWNED?

“When I was a kid, the only two consoles ncent old games Vi It’s not just out this PC Engine widely available were k collects. Chec console from 1989! the Sega Mega Drive SuperGrafx and Super Nintendo, plus there was no internet so I heard about games on the grapevine. I heard of this system called the TurboGrafx-16 and I knew nobody who had one so it was a mythical beast. As an adult, I finally got my hands on one and now I’m

“I KEEP CONSOLES AS OLD AS I AM” 16 METALHAMMER.COM

Those memories are still fresh in my mind, and that’s why I collect games now.”

“The Super Nintendo game Joe & Mac 2 is tough to find and pretty expensive, but my friend’s game store in New York, Forgotten Freshness, got it in stock and didn’t tell me. I was sorting through the shop’s back room and when I found it it was like rays of light came bursting out of it and I heard the voice of God. I got it home and put it straight on display, I couldn’t believe I got my hands on it.”

HAS YOUR LIFE IN MUSIC HELPED YOUR OBSESSION?

“Tony Diaz from [pop punk band] State Champs and I actively recruit people into our World Of Warcraft guild while we’re on the road to make new friends. Also, fans have videogames collecting dust in their house so they want to trade them for shirts. Sometimes, people are so generous that I feel almost guilty so I give them a scribble on a piece of paper as a lifetime pass to our shows.”

ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW METAL IS A MASSIVE VIDEOGAME COLLECTION?

“I’d say 9 because you can’t really give anything a full 10/10. When it comes to addiction, at least mine’s kind of healthy to everything… except my wallet.”

GRAVEBLOOM IS OUT NOW VIA RISE RECORDS

w: Then and no

HOUSES OF THE UNHOLY THE ACACIA STRAIN

Switch the NES and

The TurboExpress tried to compete against the Game Boy. Pah! Foolish handheld!

me Who’s up for so

? button-bashing

GET INVOLVED

It’s like a shrine to Nintendo!

THE HUNT Vincent recommends finding a game store with reasonable prices and staying loyal to them. “If you can find a store that’s nice to you when you walk in, that’s the spot you want to return to,” Vincent says. “Find a local shop that takes trades and maybe has strange opening hours – they should give you a fair deal.” THE CONVENTIONS Sometimes the thrill of the chase comes through trading cartridges with other players. The items you find at swap meets, flea markets and conventions may just surprise you, and the UK retro videogame convention PLAY Expo could be the answer to your gaming prayers! It’s held in a different UK city every year, so keep an eye out for events near you. THE DATABASE Is your collection already out of hand? Found a game in a charity shop but you can’t remember if you already have it? Keep a helpful list of all your current games and those you’re searching for to hand at all times on www.vgcollect.com

Mmmmm… ca rtr idge

goodness…

METALHAMMER.COM 17

â&#x20AC;&#x153;IF THE GAUGE OF METAL STOPS AT â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;EXTREMEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, THATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S WHERE SLAYER AREâ&#x20AC;? After almost four decades in the game, Slayer, the band that helped to deďŹ ne thrash and extremity in metal itself, will be bowing out for good after one, ďŹ nal global tour. In a world exclusive, we asked Megadeth mainman, fellow metal icon and native of the LA/San Francisco thrash scene, Dave Mustaine, to give us his thoughts on the end of an era and his friendship with Kerry King, and pay tribute to a cornerstone of our world 803%4 %"7& .645"*/& t ."*/ 1*$563& 45&7& #308/

FIRST OF ALL, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that Slayer

would have a garage that, from the rafters down to the floor, was full of those materials. will be winding down. That band ainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t gonna When we made our first stage for Megadeth, be â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;winding downâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for nothing. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re gonna when we had all those wacky amps on those end, but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re gonna go out on a bang. corners, and we had that kinda military theme The good thing is the fact that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve with the sandbags and the barbed wire and all contributed so much to metal, to thrash, and that shit? We built all that stuff in Kerryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just because â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Slayerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is ending, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think backyard, with him. Kerry King will. When I first met Kerry, he and I became friends. He played with Megadeth for a short THE TOURING WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;VE done together since while when we were a three-piece and looking then has probably been close to a hundred for another guitarist, and he was a different shows, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had a very up-and-down man back thenâ&#x20AC;Ś he had long hair! I remember relationship over the years, because, as you going back to Kerryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house, and he would know, Kerry is very outspoken, and sometimes be sitting on the floor with a hammer and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s joking about somebody and sometimes a piece of leather and some nails, and he heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not. But heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a great friend, and I have would be banging nails through this tremendous respect for what thing that he was making to go Slayerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done. around his stomach while his dad, an LA Sheriff that used to call everybody an asshole, was sitting on a recliner chair behind him. You would go in Kerryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s backyard, The Big 4 of thrash: Slayerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kerry King, Megadethâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dave Mustaine, Anthraxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Scott Ian, Metallicaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s James HetďŹ eld and he

18 METALHAMMER.COM

You gotta remember that we played with Slayer long before they found their direction, too, so they were still kinda getting their legs, so to speak. This makes me feel kinda old, but I got to watch them grow into who they are. And as a guy that had a pretty good influence in this whole thrash thing, watching this group of guys going from being on the outside of the circle, to entering the circle, to demanding and earning the right to be right in the centreâ&#x20AC;Ś it was great, you know? As far as metal is concerned, if there is a gauge, and the gauge stops at some point under â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;extremeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where Slayer lie. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always going to be someone faster, someone who can write songs about war and killers and the occult and stuff like that, and there are always going to be songs that have breakneck pace, killer drumming and stuff like that, but not like them. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what makes Slayer so great. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what sets those motherfuckers apart.

STAY TUNED TO WWW. METALHAMMER.CO.UK FOR DATES OF THE FINAL SLAYER WORLD TOUR, AND WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;LL SEE YOU IN THE PIT

WHY I LOVE... SLAYER

Kerry King has his sights set on the last Slayer tour

METALHAMMER.COM 19

Proud “queer kids” and heavy as hell – this duo are kicking back against bigotry in the metal scene WORDS: DEAN BROWN

SOUNDS LIKE: Gnarly, science-ﬁctioninﬂuenced sludge metal with a social conscience

FOR FANS OF: The Body, Thou, Chrch

LISTEN TO: A Pessimistic Doomsayer

PUNISHING, FEEDBACKRIDDLED SLUDGE riffs and

pummelling rhythms collide with dual vocal exorcisms on dystopian concept album Cast Of Static And Smoke, the captivating second LP by the selfdescribed “weird queer kids with lofty ambitions” who play in Vile Creature. Recently married, the duo of Vic (drums, vocals) and KW (guitars, vocals) confirm they’re keen to “try advocate for the dispossessed – those marginalised and seen as inferior and weak”, while hammering out some of the heaviest, trawling tracks you’ll hear this year. “We have our own experiences of oppression representative of our own identities as queer, non-binary persons,” Vic says. “However, I don’t want to be seen as victims with these life experiences under our belts. I think that people who have faced their own kind of oppression and lived it down are the strongest, most badass people. I can’t begin to express how many challenges are out there, and I’m reluctant to see LGBTQ+ issues as separate from colonial and capitalist violence. “Being persecuted because of your sexuality is a horrible reality,” the Ontario-based drummer continues, “and I have experienced it on some level, but that is inherently connected to my identity as a woman and growing up in poverty. I think all our stories are important, and since we’ve been running in metal circles for the

“WE DON’T WANT TO BE SEEN AS VICTIMS” 20 METALHAMMER.COM

past few years, these issues have become interwoven in the fabric of our subcultural spaces. We need to do better. We need to be kinder, gentler and educate ourselves and each other. I am all for more queer representation in metal, but I think we should also be critical of the other barriers to inclusivity.” It’s essential that more talented metal bands with erudite, progressive and tolerant viewpoints like Vile Creature are heard, especially given the increasingly conservative, often hate-filled state of play globally when it comes to race, sexuality and other sociopolitical matters. Do Vile Creature feel responsible to stand up against such archaic and dangerous ideologies? And what do they think metal as a subculture can do to decrease the rise in such thinking? “That’s a great question!” says Vic. “We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but with more representation in a place like the metal community, it’s really awesome to be part of that conversation with other rad folks. We feel comfortable enough in our convictions to be outspoken when it is called for. It’s really important if you have the ability to speak up against dangerous ideologies and behaviour, to do so. Recognise your privileges and harness them for good. There’s a lot of power in representation, and we love to see more queer and trans folks and anti-fascists in metal, and in general just kind and caring people finding their way into music communities.”

VILE CREATURE ARE also vegan – an increasingly prevalent trait amongst many young metal bands. How has this lifestyle choice impacted their existence? “I’m sure a lot of readers are rolling their eyes by now!” Vic laughs. “We

deeply care about liberation and being inter-sectional. As a feminist, how can I do genuine work dismantling systems of power and oppression, if I am going home at night and eating animals or their by-products? I thought it was important to reduce my cognitive dissonance so I could speak from a place of compassion when it came to love and liberation. Being vegan, though, doesn’t make you by default a perfect or good person. It is a process that you partake in every day to reduce suffering.” Like so many couples these days, Vic and KW met “through the wonderful and terrifying world of online dating”, where they bonded over their mutual love of roller derby and music. At the time Vic was unable to play an instrument but KW, a multi-instrumentalist, taught her the swing of it and they began rehearsing together and those practise sessions turned into Vile Creature’s 2015 debut, Steady Descent Into The Soil. Their new album is much more advanced due to honed chemistry and increased technical ability. However, Vic states that the basis behind the band’s formation has not wavered. “We still have the same perspective and intentions with our band when we first began – creating something that fellow queers and weirdos can find comfort in,” she says. “Extreme metal has always been a haven for weirdos,” Vic notes perfectly. “I think the definition of ‘weirdo’ are those with identities that are kicked down most in society. If you want to be an ally, make space for others in your music communities and try to question why you might feel threatened and upset by ‘social justice warrior’ types.”

CAST OF STATIC AND SMOKE IS OUT NOW VIA DRY COUGH

NEW NOISE VILE CREATURE

KW tau gh and no t Vic how to p w there la ’s no stoy the drums, pping th em

A match made in Heaven

Just a couple of “weird queer kids with lofty ambitions”

Vic and KW are sha king off oppression

METALHAMMER.COM 21

TARLD: playing anywhere but home

THE AMSTERDAM RED-LIGHT DISTRICT

French post-hardcore that wants to give your brain an overhaul WORDS: HYWEL DAVIES

SOUNDS LIKE: iPad-smashing melodic punk with bite.

FOR FANS OF: Refused, Of Mice & Men, Letlive

LISTEN TO: Evil Stakeholders

IF BLACK MIRROR has taught us

anything, it’s that technology is bat-shit terrifying. Our desire and dependency to nab the latest iPhone or buy TVs so smart they come with a PhD from the University of Hull has become a candidly accepted part of life that’s vice-gripped society by the balls. It’s a bit unsettling when you think about it, but what’s really got under the skin of French post-hardcore four piece The Amsterdam Red-Light District is how this tech distributes information so carelessly, going universally unquestioned. All these feelings have culminated in their explosive new album, Sapere Aude, which comes from the Latin for ‘dare to know’, which we totally didn’t Google… “Sapere Aude is all about having the courage to see things for yourself, because most people are like sheep and just follow things blindly,” says guitarist Maxime Comby. “People cannot live

“FRENCH RADIO WON’T PLAY THIS MUSIC” 22 METALHAMMER.COM

without these material things today and feel the need to keep buying more. We need to be aware that we should start thinking for ourselves.” “As a musician, when you have the chance to try and transmit something on the stage, the opportunity is too great to miss,” adds vocalist Elio Sxone of where politics fit in the band’s ethos. “It’s just like when the politicians get up and speak onstage; we have to do the same and find a way to talk about something but keeping it entertaining. We are not really into politics; we just want to tell people to think for themselves and use their freedom.”

IT’S A STRONG message that’s been three years in the making that follows 2014’s Gone For A While. Make no mistake, the lads aren’t blowing smoke up Hammer’s arse, either. Infusing melodic angst with raging hooks, it seems The Amsterdam Red-Light District have everything going for them. But one big obstacle has been a thorn in not only Maxine and Elio’s side but for the French scene in general. Though bands like Gojira and festivals like Hellfest are

helping to establish a vibrant metal community, the lads speak of a total lack of support towards the underground from any mainstream source. “In France, the culture is more about electro, techno or pop music, you know? And we’re struggling to put our name out there, even after being on the scene for 10 years. Even our radios stations don’t play our type of music,” says Max, much to his and our frustration. “It’s much easier to tour abroad,” elaborates Elio. “We play most of our shows outside of France. We play in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal; everywhere, but in France. Unfortunately, this isn’t a real choice, it’s just a matter of opportunity. There are a lot of really good bands here but just like it is for The Amsterdam Red-Light District it’s still really hard to get your name out there. Luckily, we know that there are still young people here who are into rock and metal these days. It’s why festivals like Hellfest are so important to help keep spreading the good vibes.”

SAPERE AUDE IS OUT ON MARCH 2 VIA RED LIGHT

Infected Dead: they rise…

INFECTED DEAD

Techy death metal Cthulhu would love WORDS: DOM LAWSON

SOUNDS LIKE: Ultra-modern tech-brutality with a head full of mystical horror.

FOR FANS OF: The Black Dahlia Murder, Aborted, Dyscarnate

LISTEN TO: Resurrectionist

IF YOU WANT to make music that rips

people’s heads off and dropkicks them forcefully up the arse-pipe of Satan himself, you won’t achieve it by sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself. This is a lesson that Infected Dead learned on day one. The result is that every last second of the band’s debut EP, Archaic Malevolence, leaps from the speakers like a slavering wolverine, demanding your attention and, if necessary, large chunks of your face. These boys have no time to muck about. “A few years ago we were all in different death metal bands in Kent and a couple of them did pretty well,” recalls vocalist Lou. “But due to life commitments, people’s ability levels and general musical differences none of us were really doing what we wanted to do. So we put Infected Dead together to push ourselves technically and to play

“EXTREME METAL IS RISING” 24 METALHAMMER.COM

more of the type of death metal that we’re into. Our first year as a band probably couldn’t have gone any better!” After winning their home county’s Metal 2 The Masses event last spring and a subsequent debut on Bloodstock’s New Blood stage in August, Infected Dead wasted little time piecing together a debut that promises to rattle teeth from here to Hell’s gates. Despite having a fervently modern sound, it’s hard to imagine this five-piece struggling to win over fussy purists, not least because the EP is full to the brim with the deathliest of death metal subject matter.

“ALL THE SONGS are heavily influenced by the works of HP Lovecraft and those who expanded on his Cthulhu Mythos,” says Lou. “But the overarching theme is horrible things returning from the dead, which kind of feels like an allegory for how Infected Dead was born, from three dead bands! There’s a track about the return of Nyarlathotep, a more cultish take on the Re-animator story,

Lovecraftian bastardisations of a zombie apocalypse and reincarnation lore… and an ode to Cthulhu!” Bridging the gap between the shiny, precise attack of the new school and the arcane horrors of the old is a difficult trick to pull off, but Infected Dead are already closer than most. As the world grows progressively more fucked up, music that reflects the brutality around us seems likely to become more and more popular. Don’t bet against Kent’s sharpest death squad leading the charge. “It feels like there’s been a huge rise in extreme metal from right across the spectrum over the last few years,” Lou notes. “There doesn’t seem to be a prevalent style on the more mainstream side of metal so maybe that’s led more people to seek out new stuff. It’s easier to find new bands than it’s ever been and for now, at least, people seem to be thirsty for heavier things.”

ARCHAIC MALEVOLENCE IS OUT NOW VIA HOSTILE MEDIA

I Fight Bears: with that arsenal, Paddington won’t know what hit him

I FIGHT BEARS

Groove-laden metalcore from the Welsh home of rock WORDS: JAMES WEAVER

SOUNDS LIKE: 2000s metalcore and the NWOAHM thrown into a blender

FOR FANS OF: Avenged Sevenfold, Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage

LISTEN TO: Lost The Fight

FUSE THE GUITAR trickery of Killswitch Engage, the infectious grooves of Lamb Of God and the athematic choruses of Parkway Drive together and what do you get? The answer lies with South Wales bruisers I Fight Bears. Doing exactly what it says on the tin: this is music you could use to soundtrack 10 rounds of fisticuffs with ol’ Baloo himself. “It was one of the things we wanted to convey. Not literally fighting bears, of course, but the aggression in the music – it definitely fits in with that fighting theme!” laughs guitarist Chris Treharne, talking about the meaning behind this eyebrow-raising choice of a name. “We had tried a few things early on and didn’t have much luck, so two of the guys were watching The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio and someone just said, ‘We should call our band I Fight Bears!’ No one had any objections and it just stuck from there on.”

Hailing from Bridgend, the same Welsh town that birthed 21st-century giants Funeral For A Friend and Bullet For My Valentine, the quintet came together several years ago to celebrate and channel their adoration for blistering riffs, huge choruses and dazzling solos. Wearing their influences proudly on their collective sleeves, I Fight Bears have forged a sound that is a no-holds-barred, adrenalinepumping experience.

“AT THE VERY beginning, we sat down and had a discussion with everyone about what kind of music we wanted to write,” says Chris. “The overwhelming consensus was that we want to write music based on the bands we love from each of our own personal music collections. So we combined the list of bands that we all really enjoy and it all just stemmed from that. The likes of Lamb Of God – they groove with big riffs – and Killswitch Engage… we are big fans of technical solos so we had to chuck that into the mix, too.”

“IT’S NOT JUST AMERICAN METAL BANDS THAT CAN GO FAR” 26 METALHAMMER.COM

With their musical identity firmly set in stone, the attention now turns to I Fight Bears’ debut effort. Having landed on February 16, the self-titled effort from the Welshmen is a mightily energetic record; one jam-packed full of groove and bite with a yin and yang dynamic at its epicentre. Helped along the way by Funeral For A Friend’s Gavin Burrough, who produced their initial two singles, and Bullet For my Valentine’s Michael ‘Padge’ Paget, who chipped in on mixing and mastering, their debut effort really encapsulates the unity and togetherness of their local scene. “The scene in South Wales is so tight-knit and together. I wouldn’t change it for the world. It is a community in itself and it’s almost like a family; almost everyone in every band knows everyone else and we all chip in together,” explains Chris. “It’s given us reassurance that it is not just your West Coast American bands that do get that far in the industry. You can get homegrown talent and take it to that same level. It gave us the motivation to carry on.”

I FIGHT BEARS IS OUT NOW

HOT NEW BAND I FIGHT BEARS / TEMPLES ON MARS London melodic rockers boast a new name and a new album

TEMPLES ON MARS

Temples On Mars: standing out, the no-longer-secret Agent

WORDS: MATT MILLS

SOUNDS LIKE: A progressive dance of irresistible hooks, grooving metalcore and soothing harmonies

FOR FANS OF: Arcane Roots, Bad Sign, Bring Me The Horizon

LISTEN TO: When Gods Collide

“THE BEST-LAID SCHEMES of

mice and men often go awry.” So says that book that we all had to read in GCSE English. This sentiment applies to London’s latest melodic outfit Temples On Mars, whose new, self-titled album was originally conceived as one called Suicide By Tiger, slated to be released in 2017 by a band called Agent. “We decided that as it was the first Temples On Mars album, we would treat this as a new band,” frontman James Donaldson explains of his group and album’s synchronous retitle. “Having a self-titled debut, it basically defines the band, and from there you can go on and tweak and define your sound.” “With the new band, we wanted it all to be one product: this is us!” drummer Dean Gibb chimes in. “Everything’s just defined by ‘Temples On Mars’.” The new name seems to already be opening up avenues that the more generic “Agent” was never able to. At the top of that list of newfound opportunities comes their recent signing to Primordial Records after

many months of searching for a place to call home. “We had a few comments from some labels, and the new name just stands out,” James continues. “On Google, if you typed in ‘Agent’, you’d get so many things like real estate and modelling agents. We thought ‘This isn’t working for us’; we needed to stand out!”

AND, ALREADY, STAND out is precisely what Temples On Mars are doing: their more unique title effortlessly reflects their equally unique tunes. Their debut disc is an extravaganza of exploration and catchiness, described by the band themselves as “accessible, progressive rock with an underlying, heavy tone.” “There’s some Queens Of The Stone Age, some Bring Me the Horizon, some Tool, some Tears For Fears,” James lists off, before Dean summarises by adding: “We didn’t wanna pigeonhole a fanbase. It can be accessed by fans of any genre.” Temples On Mars’s self-professed accessibility rears its head as their anthemic songs stick to easy-to-

“THIS ISN’T NICKELBACK”

digest, rock’n’roll structures. But that fact doesn’t dampen the number of exciting dynamics the group possess; their record is one full of attentiongrabbingly avant-garde moments, from wacky time signatures to bass leads to saxophone solos. Dean calls making the album a “very thought-out process,” stating that: “We’d have a song that, potentially, could end up on the album, but then we’d be pending with it for a while, adding layers until you listen to what could have been the finished article the first time after three or four weeks of tweaking, and there’s suddenly a completely different element to it.” “It’s not Nickelback,” laughs James. “We have put in some ambient instrumentation that suits the soundscape. And I think one of the songs is in 9/4 time. That’s the first time we’ve ever done that.” Knowing when to stay safe and when to go balls-to-the-wall, Temples On Mars are all set to conquer a melodic prog scene that’s currently spelling success for names like Tesseract and Sleep Token. Keep an eye on them.

TEMPLES ON MARS IS OUT APRIL 6 VIA PRIMORDIAL RECORDS

METALHAMMER.COM 27

I Am Noah: Nazi punks fuck off

MORE YO U YOU NEED I NG B N Y LOO OU D R LI FE

I AM NOAH

Politicised metalcore to raise your ﬁsts to

LIFE PILOT

This juddering, metallic hardcore fivepiece have been ripping stages across Oz, and expect to see them follow in the footsteps of many of their globeconquering countrymen very soon. Check out their Too Hot For Killing EP. LISTEN TO: DEFY

WORDS: DANNII LEIVERS

SOUNDS LIKE: Classic mid-00s metalcore that has no time for Nazis.

FOR FANS OF: Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Trivium

LISTEN TO: Blinded By Abundance

HEAVY MUSIC AND politics have

always made natural bedfellows. In recent months the likes of Architects, Body Count and Stray From The Path have all released music designed to rile up voices and raise fists and middle fingers in the face of social injustice. German metalcore crew I Am Noah are the latest in that long line of bands getting aggressively political, but their message packs no less of a punch. Between exuberant riffery, vibrant melodies and visceral barks, the focus of the band’s recent Final Breed EP rests firmly on critical issues in their home country, namely the refugee crisis and the resurfacing of the cretinous Far Right. “I wouldn’t say we’re a political band but we have an interest in politics,” explains drummer Marius Greif. “For me, as well as the whole band, the great success of the AFD [Alternative For Germany, nationalist, right-wing and populist German party] was really terrifying, especially with regard to the history of Germany. Voting for a rightwing nationalist protest party, that has no reasonable solutions to problems, just because you’re dissatisfied with the current political situation, is absolutely no option for us and incomprehensible.” Coincidentally, our chat with Marius falls on the day when, for the first time, the Berlin Wall has been down for longer than it was up. If there’s any moment that reminds us just how damaging social divisions and oppressive ideology can be, it’s today. “It’s well known where a right-

“WE ALL KNOW WHERE RIGHT WING POPULISM CAN LEAD” 28 METALHAMMER.COM

wing populist propaganda can lead,” he agrees. “It was important for us to make music with a statement which we all fully support. In my opinion, the current government has made no clear statements on important issues and problems, so it’s not surprising that right-wing parties, who clearly articulate their interests and viewpoints, are gaining attention. In the news the AFD is the topic every day. Everyone knows the names of the key players, but only very few know, for example, the name of the current Minister Of Education.”

I AM NOAH’S frustration is palpable

throughout the Final Breed EP; four fiercely woke tracks of sharp and melodic modern metalcore. It’s hardly a reimagining of the template laid down by the classic metalcore heroes of their formative years – Trivium, KSE and August Burns Red – but the introduction of djent and atmospheric electronic elements have put a new twist on IAN’s sucker-punching brutality. It marks a step up in quality and confidence from their 2016 debut, The Verdict, as well as a more open-minded approach to songwriting. “Today we’re listening to hip-hop and pop,” says Marius when asked about the influences that fed the new material. “Of course metal, too, but we’re a bit more open to other genres. Metalcore is the genre we all grew up with and with which we still feel connected today. But to write good, catchy songs with a structure, you have to listen to different music. The Final Breed EP is just the beginning of our journey.”

FINAL BREED IS OUT NOW VIA BASTARDIZED RECORDINGS

PERCEPTION

Architects, Monuments and Underoath are their influences, and Oxfordshire’s Perception deal in swathes of atmospheric tech metal underpinned with hooks and heart. Their Monolith EP shows a band full of promise. LISTEN TO: STRIVE

TABLE SCRAPS

Like your music straight, true and metallic as hell? You may not love Table Scraps’ super-fuzzy garage rock. But if the idea of a Portrait-era Manson fronting The Stooges floats your boat, check ’em out pronto. LISTEN TO: BAD FEELING

30 METALHAMMER.COM

MAKEUP: ZOE MOORE. ROB HALFORD AND TONY IOMMI SHOT EXCLUSIVELY FOR METAL HAMMER AT WROXALL ABBEY IN FEB 2018

BLACK SABBATH & JUDAS PRIEST

ROB HALFORD. T NY IOMMI. TO Two men who have done more to define heavy metal than anyone y else in its 50-year y history. y With Black Sabbath bowing out for good last year and Judas Priest preparing to unleash a brand new studio album, we united the two icons for the first time ever to talk about the past, present and future of our genre NFI;J Û;8M<Û<M<IC<PÛÝÛG@:KLI<J ÛAF?EÛDcDLIKI@<

METALHAMMER.COM 31

BLACK SABBATH & JUDAS PRIEST

Rob and Tony have known each other for almost half a century and are great friends

32 METALHAMMER.COM

BLACK SABBATH & JUDAS PRIEST

GETT Y

nobody knew what our sort of music was. he Dark Lord can’t remember It was all soul bands back then, with exactly when he first met The saxophones and whatnot.” Metal God, but it was a long, long time ago. “Blimey, it’s been years,” says Tony Iommi, the WHAT WAS BIRMINGHAM LIKE BACK IN man who, as guitarist with Black THOSE DAYS? Sabbath, invented heavy metal virtually R: “It was bleak. By six o’clock, it was single-handedly. “Must have been the late as dead as a doornail. There was only 60s or early 70s.” one club that I remember, which was Next to him, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford Barberellas. If you got to play there, isn’t much use. “Yeah, it was around the you were moving up a notch.” time I joined Priest, which was in 1971,” says the man who created the image HOW MUCH DID ALL THAT SHAPE WHAT It’s not every day you get an and the sound of the definitive metal YOU WERE DOING MUSICALLY? audience with history itself frontman. “Or maybe just after.” He T: “Oh, your surroundings and background Tony, play mock-grimaces. “I dunno. I’m trying to definitely has an impression. I worked Hamburg’sing with Earth at legendar y Star Club forget just how long ago.” in a factory, and you would hear this We’ll forgive them the vagueness of memory machinery all the time. It feeds into your and simply revel in the fact that these two music. And where we lived was very bleak. undisputed icons of heavy metal are sitting There were all these gangs and fights and god inches from one another, directly in front of knows what else. That aggression spills into Hammer, in the annex of a converted abbey what you’re doing. If we’d have come from just outside Warwick. somewhere leafy and green, it would have It’s an amusingly cosy setting for two men sounded very different.” who, between them, have notched up close to a century on the front line. Even more WAS ONE OF THE REASONS YOU FORMED A BAND important than that is the fact that without TO ESCAPE FROM ALL THAT? them and their respective bands, Hammer R: “Escapism, trying to see what’s over the wall, is wouldn’t be here at all. And, frankly, neither would you. part of what drives you. You’d see other successful It’s no overstatement to say that Iommi was there at the birth of metal. bands going to play in London, and it was such The chords that usher in the eponymous opening track from Sabbath’s a big deal. It was only two hours away, but it was like another planet.” self-titled debut album – 48 years young this year – are still the T: “Coming from Birmingham, trying to break into London was like pulling wellspring from which everything that followed has flowed. teeth. They absolutely hated us. We had a gig at this famous club, The Priest are no less important in metal’s evolution. They took Speakeasy, and we died a death, ha ha. They didn’t ask us back.” Sabbath’s blueprint and reimagined it as an unstoppable juggernaut R: “In those early days, we were both really fucking loud. We were turning encased in steel, studs and leather, cranking the drama to nearup the volume. And volume used to scare people. When Sabbath and operatic levels. Everything you love about the genre – the sound, Priest first went to America, the volume we were using compared to the volume, the atmosphere, the image – can be traced back to everybody else was immense. There was always a little bit of fear and Black Sabbath or Judas Priest. Or, more likely, both. intimidation about the volume and size of heavy metal music. It was These two great, wasn’t it?” visionaries have T: “Ha ha ha! Except met many times when you get to our over the years. age and you’re deaf.” PRIEST WERE SPURRED ON BY THEIR FELLOW BRUMMIES CRACKING THE MAINSTREAM They greeted each other on arrival with the kind of warm smiles and WHAT WAS THE WORST GIG YOU PLAYED BACK THEN? warmer hugs you’d expect from people who have known R: “We played anywhere you could put a plug in the wall. This one pub, each other for close to half a century. Rob addresses his the stage was literally three feet from the bar. There were these two guys counterpart as “Tone”. Tony nods sagely as Rob recounts the having a pint, and we were all crammed up in this tiny corner. Glenn ups and downs of his own career. [Tipton, Priest guitarist] turns his guitar on and goes [makes strumming But this is the very first time they’ve sat down to be motion], ‘Pling’. The barman went, ‘That’s it, you’re not playing, here’s interviewed and photographed together, and as such it represents your fiver, now hoppit.’ We got paid without even playing a note.” a truly historical moment. It’s fitting that it’s happening here in the T: “We had to go to Europe to break it. We played in Hamburg and West Midlands, just a few dozen miles away from Birmingham, the very Switzerland, doing seven 45-minute spots every day. And there would city where metal’s own Big Bang took place. be two people in – one of them was a hooker and the other a nutcase. There’s much to talk about, from the highs of the 70s and 80s to the We lasted about a day before the owners came up and said, ‘Stop that tough times of the 90s, through to the current state of the genre they bloody racket!’” forged in the white heat of the late 60s. And naturally, there’s a large R: “But those are great memories. At the time it’s shit, but when you look degree of mutual admiration going on. back, it’s some of the best times of your lives. You’re a bunch of guys “Sabbath’s most important contribution to music having a great time, playing your music.” is the invention of heavy metal, plain and simple,” says Rob. “Tony was the guy that played the first WAS THERE A POINT WHERE YOU THOUGHT, ‘RIGHT LADS, WE’VE heavy metal riff. And it all started from there.” DONE IT – WE’RE FAMOUS’? “And Priest have made a tremendous T: “For us, it was when the Paranoid single came out and we were contribution,” adds Tony. “To start from where on Top Of The Pops. Nobody would play you on the radio. And they did and they’ve gone on and gone on and gone journalists didn’t like us. We were hated. [Radio 1 DJ] Tony on. And they’ve flown the flag.” Blackburn hated the sight of us and he had to announce us on With that said, gentlemen: shall we begin? Top Of The Pops. It must have killed him.” R: “I remember the day the postman delivered a copy of WHERE DID YOU FIRST HEAR BLACK SABBATH, ROB? Priest’s first ever album, Rocka Rolla. The record label would Rob Halford: “It was before they were even called only give us one album each. I was still living with my mum Black Sabbath, when they were still Earth. I think and dad back then, and I remember signing for the package I might have seen you play at [legendary Birmingham and taking it up to my bedroom and going, ‘This is it! It’s club] Mother’s in Erdington.” all gonna happen!’ Ha ha ha! Little did I realise that there Tony Iommi: “Yeah, we played at Mother’s back then. would be another 10 years’ slog before it got to a really There were only a couple of places we could play, ’cos important place.”

“SABBATH’S SUCCESS INSPIRED US”

METALHAMMER.COM 33

GETTY

BLACK SABBATH & JUDAS PRIEST ROB, SABBATH HAD A FEW YEARS’ HEADSTART ON PRIEST – THEY WERE ALREADY FAMOUS BY THE TIME YOU RELEASED YOUR FIRST ALBUM IN 1974. WHAT INFLUENCE DID THEY HAVE ON YOU? R: “It was just the success they were having, that was the inspiration: ‘Oh god, they’re playing in the States!’ When your mates are doing something nn Gle b Halford and KK Downing, Ro blin Festival in 1979 like that, it’s like, ‘Maybe we might Du Tipton at the get lucky and go over there too.’ Can you remember the first time you went over to America, Tone?” T: “Yeah. We played at a club in New York called Ungano’s. We were all thinking, ‘Brilliant, it’s America, we’ve made it!’ And we turned up at this place and it was half the size of this room. Then we plugged in the gear and it blew up, ’cos we didn’t realise the voltage was different. It was, like, ‘Fucking hell, is this it?’ Mind you, we supported Rod Stewart the next night and we went down better than he did… which he wasn’t very amused about.” WHAT WAS PRIEST’S FIRST AMERICAN GIG LIKE, ROB? R: “It was in Columbus, Ohio, and we brought the ceiling down. It was a low ceiling, and the volume was so strong that it was shaking and the ceiling tiles were coming down. People were covering their ears. What a great night out.” PUNK STARTED TO EMERGE IN THE MID-70s. DID YOU SEE THOSE BANDS AS ‘THE ENEMY’ AT FIRST? R: “The metal scene was really getting established around that time, and there was this thing of, ‘We’ve all got to look after each other and support each other, because this could possibly be a threat.’ Then we saw them and heard them and thought, ‘Hang on, this isn’t going to last.’ I mean, Sid Vicious couldn’t even play a note.”

hroughout the early 70s, Black Sabbath broke the ground for Priest and every other metal band that followed. Sabbath’s first six albums – from their self-titled debut through to 1975’s Sabotage – remains one of metal’s all-time hot streaks. But by the end of that decade, their star was beginning to fade. A combination of exhaustion, ego and chemical excess conspired to knock them off their lofty pedestal. By contrast, Judas Priest were just beginning to enter their own golden period. Between 1977’s Sin After Sin album and 1982’s Screaming For Vengeance, they became one of the biggest bands in rock, inspiring everything from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal to the nascent thrash scene. It was a classic case of the torch being handed on, even if Black Sabbath themselves were far from done. HOW WERE THE 80s FOR YOU BOTH? R: “[1980’s] British Steel was the first album where people outside of our own country really started noticing Priest. I’m not saying America is the only place that’s worth breaking, but if you got played on the radio there it was a big part of building success.” T: “The 80s was a big change for us. Ozzy went and we had Ronnie Dio come in. But it pushed us, it made us work harder. And even then we had a lot of people against us. Don Arden [Sabbath’s notorious manager and father of Sharon Osbourne] said, ‘You can’t have that, a midget singing for Black Sabbath!’ We had a lot of building up to do.”

Rob: “Priest is my ﬁrst band, but right after that it’s Black Sabbath”

HOLY MISSIONS 1968

Black Sabbath form as the Polka Tulk Blues Band in Aston, Birmingham. They later change their name to Earth.

1969 Earth rename themselves Black Sabbath, after a Boris Karloff horror film.

34 METALHAMMER.COM

Judas Priest form in West Bromwich, Birmingham. No members of the original line-up remain in the band today.

1970 Black Sabbath release their debut, self-titled album and its follow-up, Paranoid, within seven

We run through ﬁve decades of heavy metal history

months of each other. That’s just showing off.

200,000 people at the California Jam festival.

1973

Judas Priest release their debut album, Rocka Rolla.

1979

1977

Ozzy is fired. Ronnie James Dio is his replacement.

1974

Ozzy leaves Sabbath, only to return early in 1978.

1980

Black Sabbath play in front of an incredible

Judas Priest release Sin

Rob Halford joins Judas Priest from the band Hiroshima.

landmark Heaven And Hell album.

After Sin – the album on which they further define their heavy metal sound.

The Dio-fronted Black Sabbath release the

The iconic British Steel becomes Priest’s defining moment of the 80s.

1982 Dio quits. A revolving cast of singers follow throughout the decade. Judas Priest’s hot streak continues with Screaming

BLACK SABBATH & JUDAS PRIEST

If any two gentlemen have the right to throw the horns, it’s these two

THE TWO ALBUMS SABBATH MADE WITH DIO REINVIGORATED THE BAND, AND PRIEST WERE GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THOSE DAYS? R: “Ha ha ha! Well, for me, not a lot. I was down the Rainbow every night, coke up the nose.” T: “Same as me.” R: “I read Tony’s book and he went there, too. It’s a combination of peer pressure and the insidious nature of drugs and booze. You get to the point where it suddenly controls your life. I used to go onstage out of my skull.” ROB, YOU CLEANED UP… T: “Ha ha ha! I notice you said, ‘Rob, you cleaned up.’” R: “I had to. Something dramatic has to happen, like it did with me. I ended up a better person, which I think made me a better musician. I went back to the early days of getting the joy from playing music without the chemical haze.” EVEN WITHOUT THE DRUGS, BOTH BANDS HAD THEIR TOUGH TIMES DURING THE 80s… R: “I think we lost our way a little bit, musically. We got caught up in a lot of the things that were going on around us. For Priest, it was the Turbo album, which became the black sheep of the family. These days, people listen to it and go, ‘That ain’t a bad tune.’ But at the time it was, ‘Is that metal enough?’ But you’ve got to take risks. And for me, the 80s for Priest was a lot of that – a lot of adventure and experimentation.” T: “It was tough for us, too. But I never thought of giving up. That’s why I’m the only one who has always been there. Everybody else came back at some point or other. Ozzy came back, Ronnie came back, Geezer came back.” ROB, YOU WERE HEADING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. YOU LEFT PRIEST IN 1992 AND DIDN’T COME BACK FOR ANOTHER 11 YEARS… R: “Well, I’m in the same company as a lot of other singers – Bruce left Maiden, David Lee Roth left Van Halen. It’s Lead Singer’s Disease. But sometimes you have to step away from something to realise how great that place is. Whatever I did in my solo activities was

“WE PLAYED TO TWO PEOPLE: A HOOKER AND A NUTCASE” SABBATH’S EARLY GIGS WEREN’T EXACTLY KNOCKOUTS

For Vengeance, their commercial breakthrough.

1991

1997

2005

Dio rejoins Sabbath.

1986

The original Black Sabbath line-up reunite.

Priest release the careerreviving Painkiller.

Priest unleash their first album with Rob back in the fold, Angel Of Retribution.

Sabbath release Seventh Star – originally a Tony Iommi solo album. Priest release the divisive Turbo, featuring guitar synthesisers.

1992 Dio quits Sabbath, refusing to support Ozzy. Rob steps in. Rob quits Judas Priest to form Fight.

Priest release their first album without Rob, Jugulator. Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens is on vocal duties.

2013 The original Black Sabbath line-up, minus drummer Bill Ward, record a new album, 13.

2007

Halford rejoins Priest.

The Dio-era Black Sabbath line-up reunite, renaming themselves Heaven & Hell.

Halford announces Epitaph isn’t their final tour after all.

2004

2011

2017

Sabbath and Priest coheadline the US Ozzfest.

Judas Priest announce their farewell Epitaph tour.

Black Sabbath bow out, playing their

2003

final show in Birmingham on February 4.

2018 Judas Priest release their 18th album, Firepower.

Judas Pr iest : 18 in and goin albums g strong

Dio was part of Sabbath’s revolving cast of frontmen

METALHAMMER.COM 35

BLACK SABBATH & JUDAS PRIEST Does this really look like a man who plays jazz music?

And with that, the two legends parted ways and disappeared into the night

really important, because it brought me back to the place I was always destined to be – the singer for Judas Priest.”

heir two worlds truly collided in 1992, when Black Sabbath opened for Ozzy Osbourne at two gigs in Cosa Mesa, California during his supposed retirement tour. A combination of ego clashes and politics saw Ronnie James Dio, who had returned to Sabbath after a decade away, refusing to play, leaving them in a very deep hole. Enter their old friend Rob Halford, who stepped in as frontman for a pair of landmark performances…

TOTAL RECALL

Crunching the numbers of two of metal’s most important bands FORMED:

FORMED:

1969

1968

ALBUMS:

SINGLES:

LATEST RELEASE:

Firepower (2018)

13 (2013)

TOTAL MEMBERS:

HIGHEST-CHARTING ALBUM:

British Steel (#4)

Paranoid, 13 (#1)

HIGHEST-CHARTING SINGLE:

Breaking The Law (#12)

Paranoid (#4)

METAL HAMMER COVERS:

GOLDEN GODS AWARDS:

36 METALHAMMER.COM

HOW DID THE COSA MESA SHOWS COME ABOUT? R: “Someone told me that Tony wanted to speak to me, so he called me in Phoenix and basically explained what was going on. I just said, ‘I’m in!’” T: “It was great, he was so good. He just jumped in and killed it.” R: “We had one little practice in Phoenix, in a tiny rehearsal room. We ran through everything once, and the show was the next day. We had no time to think. It’s just that British thing: ‘Get on with it. It’s gonna happen, just do it.’” WAS IT EVER ON THE CARDS THAT YOU’D JOIN SABBATH FULL TIME, ROB? R: “I don’t think it was. I was just thrilled to get the call. I’ve always said that Priest is my first band, but right after that it’s Black Sabbath. It’s always been that way, it always will. It was magical. I watch it occasionally on YouTube and I can’t believe I was there. It doesn’t look like me.” T: “It was definitely you.” THE 90s WAS A TOUGH DECADE FOR METAL AS A WHOLE. WHAT DID IT FEEL LIKE BEING ON THE INSIDE? T: “It was tough for a while. It went through a funny patch. A lot of people fell by the wayside. A lot of people started backing out and going in different directions musically. But that’s where you’ve got to believe in what you do, and follow it through. You’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and get through it. That’s what we did. At the end of the day you come out the other side.” R: “I remember the day I heard Man In The Box on the radio. I was driving round Phoenix, and the DJ goes, ‘This is this new band, Alice In Chains from Seattle.’ I thought, ‘Ooh, that sounds interesting.’ Then I heard something from this band called Pearl Jam, then something from this band called Nirvana. Then I thought, ‘Oh god, here we go again.’” HOW DIFFICULT DID THINGS GET IN THE 90s? R: “It was like the punk thing all over again. Everybody was going, ‘Metal’s over, it’s done.’ You couldn’t get any interviews, you couldn’t get on the radio. In America, the programme directors at radio stations were told by the owners, ‘Don’t play metal any more.’” T: “They’ve tried to destroy metal so many times and it still comes back.” R: “That’s totally the truth. But you can’t kill metal. It just makes you stronger, doesn’t it, Tone? It makes you more determined.”

Rob and Tony both intend to make music for many years to come. We’re down with it

WAS THERE A POINT WHERE YOU NOTICED THE PENDULUM BEGINNING TO SWING BACK? T: “For us, we’ve just carried on. Obviously, with bands citing you as an influence, people will always listen. And it starts again. I don’t think in our lives, metal has ever gone away. The amount of people that have tried to write it off is unbelievable. It was all, ‘It’s had it now’, and it never has – it’s always been there.”

BLACK SABBATH CALLED IT A DAY LAST YEAR. WHAT ARE YOU UP TO AT THE MOMENT, TONY? T: “I’m not writing at the moment, but I will be. I moved house, and I’ve only just got set up again. It’s great to have a break – you come back fresh.” ANY PLANS TO COLLABORATE WITH SOMEONE NOT A MILLION MILES FROM HERE? T: [Beckoning to Rob] “What, him? We’ve talked about it for ages. When the time’s right it would be nice to write a track or two, or whatever. I’d like to do that. It’s nice to work with people that you respect and like.”

IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A BAND STARTING OUT TODAY TO HAVE THE IMPACT SABBATH AND PRIEST HAD? R: “It depends what you measure success by. How do you define it? Is success a platinum album? Is success selling out Madison Square utside the window, the light is dimming and the temperature is Garden? Popularity or records sold? I don’t know. But to me, that plunging. Rob is heading back to his house in the West Midlands. doesn’t matter. Metal will always be there. There’ll always be a new band In a few days, he’ll meet up with the other members of Priest to coming along. There’s probably a bunch in the UK that I don’t even know begin rehearsals for the tour in support of their new, 18th album, about. Same in Firepower. Tony’s Germany or Japan heading back to or South America. his own place, That’s the thrill where he’ll start COULD WE HEAR ROB SCREAMING OVER TONY’S RIFFS SOON? – the fact it’s thinking about always there.” dusting down the amps and getting back into the ring. There are farewell hugs and selfies. “Are you on Instagram, Tone?” asks the IS THE METAL SCENE HEALTHY IN 2018? Metal God, to the Dark Lord’s mild bemusement. R: “Definitely. There’s always a new generation out Earlier, Rob had pondered the imprint that Priest and Sabbath there. But the cool thing, watching this over the have left over the past 50 years. For him, the people who made this decades, is that people always go back to the music – and continue to make it – are important. But there’s source, to the roots of heavy metal – to Black something else to it, something less tangible. Sabbath, to Judas Priest.” “Your band becomes bigger than you,” says Rob. “The Black Sabbath name is gigantic. Tony’s always been there, admittedly, ARE YOU AT A POINT WHERE YOU FEEL LIKE but it becomes something bigger than that. It’s the same YOU’RE READY TO HAND OVER THE BATON TO THAT with Priest. You’re almost like the caretaker of it.” NEW GENERATION AND STEP BACK FROM THE The men who created heavy metal will eventually be gone. FRONTLINE? OR DO YOU STILL HAVE PLENTY OF But Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, and the thing they will YEARS LEFT IN YOU? leave behind: they’re immortal. T: “I bloody hope we’ve got plenty of years left!” R: “Definitely. You can’t turn it off. There’s always JUDAS PRIEST’S NEW ALBUM, FIREPOWER, LANDS ON another riff, there’s always another song to make. MARCH 9 VIA COLUMBIA. THEY HEADLINE BLOODSTOCK The joy about where we’re at in our lives is that even FESTIVAL ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 10. though we’ve achieved so much, there’s still stuff to do. BLACK SABBATH’S THE TEN YEAR WAR BOXSET IS OUT There’s no end in sight.” NOW VIA BMG

“WE’VE TALKED ABOUT COLLABORATING”

38 METALHAMMER.COM

SEPULTURA

, AT THE END OF 1995 SEPULTURA ENTERED THE STUDIO TO RECORD THE ALBUM THAT

SHOULD HAVE CEMENTED THEIR LEGACY

AS METAL’S BIGGEST BAND

SINCE METALLICA. TWELVE MONTHS LATER, THE

BAND’S FUTURE LAY IN TATTERS.

, FOR, THE FIRST TIME EVER , MAX IGGOR ANDREAS AND PAULO ALL GIVE THEIR SIDES OF A STORY WHICH HAS

RAGED ON FOR DECADES WORDS: DAVE EVERLEY

40 METALHAMMER.COM

MICK HUTSON/GETTY IMAGES

SEPULTURA

Max at a Sepultura shoot in 1996. Not long after, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d quit the band

METALHAMMER.COM 41

epultura were the greatest success story of the mid-90s. Four kids from the cultural backwater of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, they journeyed from sub-underground death metal no-hopers into global ambassadors for their home country, and for metal as a whole. The band’s still-explosive 1989 album Beneath The Remains served notice of their impending genius, but it was their fifth full-length record, 1993’s Chaos AD, that found Sepultura jumping several gears, pushing them far beyond their contemporaries. Its groundbreaking mix of jagged noise and South American influences sounded like nothing that came before it, while frontman Max Cavalera raged against corruption and stupidity with the conviction of a man who had nothing left to lose. The album connected instantly, smashing into the UK Top 20 and the US Top 40 like a Molotov cocktail. Successful tours with the likes of Pantera and Ministry followed. “During the making of Chaos AD, we were very focused, very organised, very connected,” says guitarist Andreas Kisser today. “We were together, it was a very special moment in Sepultura’s career.” But there were downsides. The pressures of success, and the responsibilities of being flagbearers for a new generation of metal bands soon began to have an effect on the ‘classic Seps’ line-up of Max, Andreas, bassist Paulo ‘Jr’ Pinto and drummer, Max’s brother Iggor Cavalera. “All of a sudden we’re this really big machine and we couldn’t really comprehend it,” says Max now. “We didn’t know how to deal with it.” n October 1995, Sepultura entered Indigo Ranch Studio in Malibu to record the follow-up to Chaos AD with rising nu metal producer Ross Robinson. The album built on the indigenous Brazilian influences of its predecessor, simultaneously taking them further away from their death metal past towards an incendiary, groove-driven battery. MAX: “There was no pressure on the music side. We’d proved that we could take this thing in any direction we wanted, and it was great.” one Sepultura in 1996, Max onstage with mances with the band of his last per for

MICK HUTSON/GETTY IMAGES

SEPULTURA

Sepultura in 1996 (left to right): Iggor Cavalera, Andreas Kisser, Paulo Jr, Max Cavalera

IGGOR: “It was very early where Max came up with the Roots song, and from then on we were building, thinking about what would be the ‘roots’ of our music. We did a lot of crazy experimenting.” ANDREAS: “Ross Robinson had a whole new perspective. He came and showed a lot of new possibilities for us. He really brought that idea of the ‘Brazilianness’: the jams, the free approach to everything.”

TTY MICK HUTSON/GE

IMAGES

IGGOR: “He was pushing a lot of crazy ideas. I remember coming back from the studio with a tape we’d done there, and I didn’t know what we were going to do with it, ’cos there was so much going on – a thousand guitars on a take with noises and percussion, that kind of thing. I was a bit confused.”

42 METALHAMMER.COM

MAX: “The greatest thing was having the combination of Ross and [engineer] Andy Wallace. Ross recorded it on his own and it sounded like total dogshit – not for human consumption. We’d send it to Andy. It would be like sending him a diamond covered in shit, and he had to clean all the shit from it to make the diamond shine, which is what he did.” PAULO: “When Andy came into the mix, he knew how to make that really noisy, grungy mass sound good.”

ANDREAS: “It came out very positive. I think that was a merit of the band – to funnel the stuff that was going on in our lives into our music.” eleased in early 1996, Roots built on the success of its predecessor on both sides of the Atlantic. But imperceptible fault lines were opening up within the band. On one side was Max and his wife, the band’s manager Gloria. On the other were Andreas, Paulo and Iggor. ANDREAS: “Things had started to go kind of weird before that. When [Max and Gloria’s son] Zyon was born, instead of putting a band on the cover of a magazine, they had Max with his kid. That’s nothing to do with the band. To have a kid is not that special. I have three myself. I love them, but I don’t use them as a trophy.” PAULO: “I guess things weren’t right when we started to tour Roots. We saw things were not being represented the way the three of us would like. The other party was taking credit for everything and not really giving the rest of the band the credit for what we worked for.” ANDREAS: “Concepts of what Sepultura should be were changing. Max was already being detached from the unity that we had. It was a lead singer with his support band type of vibe. And Gloria was doing a horrible job – she was not trying to keep anything together.”

SEPULTURA weird. I don’t think I’ll ever experience anything like that again.” MAX: “I spent the night before the funeral with Jason Newsted, making a cassette tape with Dana’s favourite songs. We put a cassette player on his coffin and we let it play until the batteries ran out. During the funeral there was a jam session between Andreas and Jason, playing acoustic guitar – they made that for Dana. It was beautiful, really touching.” ANDREAS: “But from that point, the whole emotional instability just got bigger. Especially from Gloria’s family.” ather than bring the two warring factions together, Dana’s death only drove them further apart. The tensions that had been simmering came to the boil post-Donington. Andreas, Paulo and Iggor decided that they no longer wanted Gloria to manage Sepultura. ANDREAS: “We had the contract. We had a legal tool on our side, where we could exercise an option not to continue with Gloria because we wanted to change the way Sepultura’s business was done. And they didn’t want to hear it.” MAX: “The other three guys, they just stopped talking to Gloria completely, which was really cold. Who does that? I had my own brother doing that, which was really hard to understand.” PAULO: “We tried to talk to Max but it was hard.” MAX: “You don’t just change people for no reason. If it wasn’t working, I could see the point of changing: ‘Yeah, let’s change, we gotta do something.’ But that wasn’t the case at all. We were more successful than ever. It was incomprehensible.”

“THEY PUT MAX’S KID ON MAGAZINE COVERS INSTEAD OF THE BAND” ANDREAS STRUGGLED WITH THE FOCUS SHIFTING TO MAX’S PERSONAL LIFE

IGGOR: “There was a lot of stupid stuff. Just a lot of drama over nothing. You get to the point where you travel so much, little things can be superdramatic. It’s like Spinal Tap – people would freak out over not having the sandwich we wanted.” MAX: “We started seeing all these shady guys in the dressing room, managers meeting with the other three guys, trying to steal the band from Gloria’s management.” ANDREAS: “Sepultura only works if we are a band, if we can talk to each other and respect each other. We were at a point where we were just going onstage to play, and that’s how they wanted to keep going.” n August 1996, Sepultura arrived in the UK to play the Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington, opening for Kiss and Ozzy. They were greeted by the tragic news that Gloria’s son, Dana Wells, had been killed in a car accident at home in Phoenix.

ANDREAS: “We just arrived in England to play Castle Donington, and we got the news. I was the one to bring the news to Gloria. I took her away from her room and told her.” MAX: “The minute we arrived, there was a knock on the door and it was Andreas – he had this pale, ghostly expression that I’d never seen before, and I knew that something was incredibly wrong. He told Gloria, ‘Your son died.’ From that moment on, the whole day just spiralled out of control. Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne really helped us a lot, they’re the ones that helped us get back home. Without them, we couldn’t have got home so quick.” ANDREAS: “We had a big show, in our heads probably one of the biggest shows in Sepultura’s career, and we decided to go ahead and do the show as a trio. I’m glad we did. There were mixed emotions. A profound sadness for a huge loss, but at the same time playing at Castle Donington. It was very

ANDREAS: “We had a big fight with Gloria in Buenos Aires [on November 14, 1996]. That’s where Sepultura ended. But we decided to go to Europe to do the tour, to try and make Sepultura possible for another year. It was crazy.” epultura’s European tour began in Belgium on November 20, 1996, and ended just under a month later at London’s Brixton Academy on December 16 – the day their contract with Gloria Cavalera ended. Immediately after that final show, all the issues that had been brewing finally came to a head. Interestingly, the former bandmates have very different views on how the show itself went. MAX: “The show was fantastic, super-energetic, high energy – we were playing really good.” ANDREAS: “I know it was great and everything, but it could have been much better if we were a band.” PAULO: “It was a very shitty show.” IGGOR: “At the end of the show, it was, like, ‘It cannot continue like this.’ That’s when we took the decision we did.” ANDREAS: “We terminated our deal with our manager there, and [Max and Gloria] decided to leave Sepultura.

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Andreas performing at Monsters Of Rock in 1996, minus Max, who had ﬂown home following Dana’s tragic death

MAX: “I don’t think it was in the dressing room. It was more on the bus ride going to the airport. I probably had a little bit to drink, so I was on the edge. I told them, ‘If that was how it was going to be, fuck you all, I’m out of here.’” IGGOR: “I don’t know if anyone tried to talk Max out of leaving. It was a lot of turbulent times.” ANDREAS: “Of course we tried to talk Max out of leaving.” MAX: “Gloria tried to talk me out of it. She told me go with them. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. I’m not that kind of person. I cannot fuck people over like that. That’s how great of a person she is – just go with them, stay with them. I’m, like, ‘I’m not doing that to you. It’s absurd.’ They had a meeting to try to get me back.”

ANDREAS: “We were abandoned. We lost everything that took 10 years to build. We had to cancel shows in Australia and Japan – it was really bad. Bad blood with promoters and everything. All the budgets and big money went to Soulfly. Ross Robinson and Andy Wallace went to Max. We had to rebuild everything.”

thing, it was very hard. But anybody who has brothers knows how it is a completely different thing than dealing with a friend. With a brother, it doesn’t resolve just by talking. It needs something extreme to happen so you both understand what was going on.”

n the race to release an album, Max’s new project, Soulfly, were first out of the gate. Their self-titled debut emerged in April 1998, produced by Ross Robinson and featuring MAX: “I didn’t know what they were going to do, members of Fear Factory, Deftones, Limp honestly. But Andreas is a very ambitious guy. Bizkit and Dub War. The reconstituted Sepultura, I knew he was probably going to find someone now fronted by American singer Derrick and give it a go. I thought they might even get Greene, followed six months later with Against. Both albums were accompanied by potshots directed at the other camp in the press – a pattern that would be repeated over the next few years. But further upheaval struck Sepultura in MAX ON THE MOMENT GLORIA HEARD ABOUT DANA’S DEATH 2006 when Iggor jumped ship somebody like Robb Flynn. I was, like, ‘If that to reunite with his brother. happens, I’m fucked.’” IGGOR: “The decision to leave Sepultura wasn’t ANDREAS: “We wanted to change the name, hard. It was harder to continue without my start something totally different. But slowly brother. We’d just had a son, and my wife was we put our heads in place and balanced all the really sad: ‘Your brother has never seen our options and talked to a lot of people. We were son, that’s not right.’ And I was, like, ‘She’s nine months working to find a new manager, right.’ So I reached out and talked to him. a new singer, a new producer – to find a new That was the first step.” way to keep Sepultura going.” MAX: “He came back and apologised. He told MAX: “The hardest part was Iggor, because he Gloria he was wrong, which is great. To admit was my brother. I was, like, ‘How that he was wrong on that whole thing, it was could you do that to me?’ I don’t really cool of him to do that.” know, man. It had a bit to do with greed, it had a bit to do with IGGOR: “I flew to Phoenix to hang human nature.” out with Max. We were influenced a lot by the whole thing with IGGOR: ‘It was horrible. Me and Pantera, the Dimebag thing – like, Max being so close together for ‘Look, these guys cannot do what so many years, doing our little we’re doing right now.’ We know PAULO: “Nobody gave us the credit we deserved. We had to start from scratch.”

“ANDREAS LOOKED PALE. HE SAID, ‘YOUR SON’S DIED’”

ANDREAS: “It’s really hard when you do a meeting with Max and Iggor. You can spend two hours talking, some explanation of stuff, and somehow they leave there and nothing happens. It’s really weird way of doing business.” s the shock news of the split between Max and his former bandmates broke, both parties retreated to take stock. Inevitably, the shattered relationship turned poisonous, with barbs thrown in the press. Privately, both parties were facing an uncertain future. MAX: “I could have gone, ‘Fuck you all, this is my band.’ I could have if I’d wanted to. It was my band, invented by me, the name and everything. I just felt it was easier to walk away. But it was six months of hell. I lived in my room, just drinking and taking drugs all day long. I didn’t want anything to do with music.”

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The Awesome Foursome in the UK in early ’96. A few days previously, they’d celebrated the release of Roots with a gig at London’s 1,000-capacity Astoria 2

how life, it’s super-short. So I was, like, ‘Fuck it, I just want to hang out with my brother.’” s both sides warily circled each other with teeth bared, there seemed little chance of a reunion of the classic Sepultura line-up, despite huge offers dangled in front of them by promoters. Then, in late 2010, rumours circulated that the band were planning to reunite. Sepultura released a video statement refuting the rumours.

the first time. Our bus was parked here and their bus was parked a few metres away. I went out there, Gloria was there. I give her a hug: ‘Hey, what’s up, how’s it going?’ And since then, she was like, ‘OK, maybe we could put all this bad stuff back and we could try again.’ It didn’t go further, because it’s something that’s completely out of reality. It’s not a part of what we are. That Sepultura they have in mind, it’s not us.” MAX: “It was Gloria’s idea for me and Iggor to tour the Roots album (2017’s Roots Reunited tour). I think a lot of fans just wanted to hear the original voice and original drumming. They didn’t care that Paolo and Andreas weren’t in the

Roots. When it comes to what could’ve been, all members remain philosophical on the subject. IGGOR: “I have no idea how things would be if we’d gotten through the problems.” MAX: “I think we would have been extremely big if we had stayed together. Not as popular as Metallica, but popular. But then Soulfly came about, so it was a blessing in disguise. I last spoke to Andreas six years ago, and I’ve not spoken to Paolo once. Never.”

MAX: “I was trying for it. I thought it’d be very cool. Especially after I saw Faith No More get ANDREAS: “Do I miss being in a band with Max? back together. It’s like, ‘Why can’t we do the No. Not at all. I don’t know him today. I don’t same?’ I actually talked to know the person he is.” Andreas on the phone about it, like, ‘Come on man, let’s do MAX: “There were some this. Let’s fucking do it. The good times, it wasn’t whole world wants it. It would all bad. We actually had be a great thing.’ And he agreed a lot of fun. The friendships MAX INSISTS HE TRIED TO BRING THE CLASSIC LINE-UP BACK TOGETHER with me, then a couple of weeks were cool, you know? I miss picture, which was proven by the success of the later it was all back to shit again. So I was, like, that sense of, ‘We can do it, we can conquer tour. It sold out everywhere. It was a great tour.” the world.’” ‘Fuck it, I’m not going to try any more.’”

“I SAID TO ANDREAS, ‘THE WORLD WANTS THIS REUNION’”

IGGOR: “I think there was some talk. But I never sit down with those guys to discuss anything, so I don’t know how serious those things were.”

ANDREAS: “It’s sad to be dragging up the past. That’s why we don’t spend our time doing tribute tours and shit. We’re very much focused on what we’re doing now, today. We put our energy and efforts into creating a new Sepultura every day.”

ICONIPIX GEORGE CHIN/

ANDREAS: “There’s been many reunion conversations, especially with Gloria. It’s always them approaching us.”

n 2018, the gulf between Sepultura and the Cavalera brothers is as wide as ever. Both camps continue to release albums to varying degrees of acclaim, though with only a fraction of the commercial success they enjoyed with Chaos AD and

ANDREAS: “We both played at a festival in Germany [in 2009], Sepultura and Soulfly, for

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ses to reunite Andreas refu e-up, despite lin ic ss cla e th ia’s attempts Max and Glor

ANDREAS: “There’s no regret at all. I don’t see why we should be regretful when we are in a better place now.” MAX: “Maybe we should have took a year off and come back better than ever. Maybe we would have found a solution for the whole Gloria thing, the whole management thing. At that time, we were not thinking about that. Hot heads prevailed. Would I have done anything differently? I don’t know. I think it was meant to be.”

SEPULTURA’S MACHINE MESSIAH IS OUT NOW VIA NUCLEAR BLAST. THEY PLAY THE UK IN MARCH – SEE P. 108 FOR DETAILS. CAVALERA CONSPIRACY’S PSYCHOSIS IS OUT NOW VIA NAPALM. A NEW SOULFLY ALBUM IS EXPECTED LATER THIS YEAR

LEGEND OF THE SEAGULLMEN magine, if you can, a band of been bandied around – but it isn’t heavy metal superheroes who something they’re particularly exist deep in the underbelly of comfortable with. the ocean, harnessing the “It’s kind of a weird one for me, awesome power of progressive because they’re just the people rock, cinematic bombast, I hang with,” shrugs Danny. “I mean, spaghetti western music and the guys in Mastodon or Meshuggah rousing sea shanties. Their or Rage are my friends, and you minds have previously brought to life just hang out with your crew, and everything from Lateralus, to Crack I want to create! I hate that term The Skye, to… er… Finding Nemo. anyway. When I first moved to LA, Welcome to the weird and wonderful I was a driver, and one of the first world of Legend Of The Seagullmen. jobs I did was for Dick Van Dyke’s “We’re all really good friends and birthday party.” we have been for over a decade,” “Ha ha ha! No fucking way!” explains Jimmy Hayward, an Jimmy shouts, before the two men Legend Of The Seagullmen: animator on legendary Hollywood descend into another bout of brilliantly batshit staples such as Toy Story, Monsters, righteous laughter. Inc. and A Bug’s Life, who also “I did!” Danny’s happens to be the guitarist in continues. “I was just 2018’s most bizarre band. some kid from Kansas, “We’d all hang out and jam. and I went there and saw One day, our singer, The him just hanging out Doctor, came up with the idea with all these big stars, for this nautical-themed band, and I thought, ‘Well, which was wild and amazing. I guess these guys have He was convinced that we to party too, right?’ should tell the story of these And after that I’ve never crazy guys in the ocean, and really considered it – it’s the more it started to take all relative.” shape, the more I realised how It’s rare to hear two much it resonated with me. bandmembers so relaxed I grew up within a few miles of on the eve of a new the Pacific Ocean and he grew project’s release, but up close to [Florida’s] Cocoa Legend Of The Seagullmen Beach, so we’ve been around is an album so absurdly the boats and the animals and unrestrained, so full of the water our whole lives…” head-spinning prog and “I, on the other hand, grew odd, multicoloured up in Kansas... so I didn’t characters, that you have know what the fuck they to wonder if the band are were talking about! But they serious at all. sucked me in!” says Tool “Once we had the drummer Danny Carey about concept, we wanted to his involvement, as the two each take on these largermen crack up. than-life characters “So, then he moved to within the band,” Danny Malibu to ride dolphins!” says. “That was, again, Jimmy shoots back. The Doctor’s idea. But What happens when you mix the drummer of Tool, a The pair are in high spirits there is more to the Mastodon guitarist and Finding Nemo? Meet Legend Of today. They’ve previously album than that. I mean, The Seagullmen: metal’s most bizarre new supergroup worked together, with Danny I’m not gonna sit here scoring and acting for Jimmy’s and spell it out for you…” films, and are obviously “…but there are WORDS: STEPHEN HILL delighted to finally unleash obviously a lot of the Seagullmen’s self-titled debut album on an metaphors within the concept,” adds Jimmy. music, and he’d just play a solo or lead in one unsuspecting world, a good three years after “I guess it seems pretty fantastical when you take, and then we’d say, ‘Wanna try that again?’ they revealed their existence and released Battle And he’d do a completely different piece in throw names like The Seagull God around, or Of The Deep-Sea Diver and Ships Wreck online. Danny’s character, The Fogger, who delivers a completely different scale the second time. BFFs they may be, but the Seagullmen have The things he brought to this project were just… karmic justice to those who abuse the ocean. some serious pedigree within their ranks. Jimmy wow! Plus, he’s a big, intimidating guy, so I have I don’t wanna wave my environmentalist flag and Danny are joined by the aforementioned too much, but we’re people who care about to say that…” David ‘The Doctor’ Dreyer on vocals, bassist Pete “I could take him!” grins Danny, before Jimmy that stuff. But part of the thing that we always Griffin of Dethklok, synth man Chris DiGiovanni, loved about the music we listened to growing starts giggling uncontrollably. and guitarists Tim Dawson and Mastodon wizard up, whether it was Number Of The Beast, Sad Brent Hinds. His presence adds yet another Wings Of Destiny or any of the King Crimson stuff, ombining the weirdness of Mastodon, the name, alongside Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, Gone was figuring out what the fuck they were talking progressive diversions of Tool, and rousing Is Gone and Killer Be Killed, to the ever-swelling orchestral parts that sound like Pirates Of The about. So, as I always say when I make movies, list of Mastodon members’ extra-curricular Caribbean Goes Metal – Jimmy was influenced I want intelligent people to pay attention to this.” activities. They all live in LA apart from Brent, So, are you willing to get onboard? The by the symphonies he works with on his movies who joined them from Atlanta to add his Legend Of The Seagullmen’s maiden voyage is – the Seagullmen defy genre categorisation. distinctive touch. about to begin… They’ve already played with the suitably offbeat “When he did come in, we wanted to make Primus, and plan to return to stages when time the most of him,” says Jimmy. “And that meant allows. With big names attached to the band, LEGEND OF THE SEAGULLMEN IS OUT NOW just letting him go; we could play him a bit of it’s no shock that the label ‘supergroup’ has VIA DINE ALONE

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LEGEND OF THE SEAGULLMEN

“WE’RE DELIVERING JUSTICE TO PEOPLE WHO ABUSE THE OCEAN!” LEGEND OF THE SEAGULLMEN ARE SERIOUS ABOUT OUR SEAS

Danny Carey does like to see beside the seaside

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LOVEBITES

“WE’RE NOT HERE TO BE CUTE.

WE’RE HERE TO Lovebites (left to right): Mi-Ya, Miho, Asami, Haruna, Midori

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LOVEBITES The Japanese metal scene is being turned inside out by a generation of women playing faster, harder and heavier. We talk to the movement’s leaders, Lovebites, about a rising phenomenon

WORDS: DAVID WEST

revolution is underway in Japan’s “Around the time A Drop Of Joker was metal world. In a scene long breaking up, I was handed a demo of what was dominated by men, where even to become Lovebites,” says Mi-ya, who’d already heavyweights like Loudness, X met Miho, Haruna, vocalist Asami and guitarist Japan and Anthem have struggled Midori through playing at the same venues while to find lasting success in the West, in different bands. “They were doing really a new generation of all-female metal bands are old-school traditional heavy metal, but because turning the scene on its head. Leading the pack? these days there aren’t many girls playing Tokyo’s Lovebites: a band who burst onto the traditional heavy metal I thought it sounded global metal scene last year with a self-titled EP new and refreshing.” and a richly received debut album, Awakening Mi-ya initially came onboard as a support From Abyss, which earned critical acclaim and member but proved invaluable as a songwriter the attention of Lzzy Hale and Alice Cooper’s with a style that perfectly matched Miho’s shred queen, Nita Strauss. Dig a little deeper, musical concept. “I was not really paying however, and it becomes clear that this is a scene attention to Japanese artists,” she reveals. that has been bubbling under the surface for “I probably heard [veteran heavy metallers] almost a decade. Loudness and the other big bands playing metal Growing up playing in Japan, but classical piano, it was that was it.” at 19 that Lovebites In fact, the guitarist Mi-ya sought guitarist a new challenge namechecks and bought her first Ettore Rigotti guitar. Armed with from Italian the evocatively titled death metallers textbook Mechanical Disarmonia Training Phrases From Mundi as her LOVEBITES GUITARIST MI-YA GOT HER METAL EDUCATION FROM EUROPE Hell, she discovered inspiration to a world of music start writing she’d never heard before. music. “Up until then I was not “In the centrefold of the book really thinking about writing there was a CD which explained songs, but once I found Ettore, which riff came from which I thought, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t band,” she says today via just play guitar; if you’re a translator, “so I learned riffs musician, you should compose that came from AC/DC, ones songs and arrange them.” from Judas Priest, ones from Mi-ya went on to contribute Iron Maiden. I took that list of five of the 12 songs on band names, went to the CD shop Awakening From Abyss, and and bought all the albums.” the rest is history. Within two years Mi-ya went from playing covers with her friends to forming hile there’s not a lot of Italian death the all-female electro metalcore band A Drop metal in Lovebites, those ripping twin Of Joker, who self-released three albums guitar harmonies speak to their love between 2013 and 2015. “Those girls were of Maiden, Priest and Helloween. It helps them the same as me,” says Mi-ya. “They didn’t want stand out in a scene dominated by visual kei to be really bubbly and cute, they wanted to bands like X Japan, and even the idol metal phenomenon led by Babymetal. While Japan’s longest running all-female band, Show-Ya, formed in 1985, are perhaps cut from a similar cloth, Lovebites are more commonly associated with the likes of Osaka quintet Aldious, whose 2010 album spearheaded what the Japanese press dubbed the Girl Metal Band Boom, alongside groups like the now-defunct Tengusakura and Galmet. Despite being good be as heavy as any male band.” They achieved friends with Aldious guitarist Toki, Mi-ya is modest success before splitting in 2016, citing ambivalent about being labelled according creative differences. At the same time, bassist to her gender. Miho and drummer Haruna left the band “Because Lovebites consists of five girls, Destrose, another all-female band. Destrose we can’t avoid being put in that category,” had a more ‘typical’ Japanese sound and image she admits. “I don’t mind it, but I would say – all Gothic Lolita lace and frills – but Miho that Lovebites is a little different. We’re dreamt of forming a band that played Europeanalmost the only one of the Japanese girl style metal. metal bands singing everything in English.

“I WASN’T LISTENING TO JAPANESE BANDS. I PREFERRED ITALIAN DEATH METAL”

BE HEAVY”

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LOVEBITES

Lovebites don’t see why they should drop their femininity to play heavy metal

or in the UK, we do what we do,” says Mi-ya. There is a particular Japanese metal sound, but “We did our best and the reaction from the when I’m writing I try to go more European.” audience was really… direct, compared to a One of the ways they’ve achieved that sound Japanese audience, because Japanese audiences is by bringing in Finland’s Mikko Karmila and tend to be more reserved and a bit quiet. We Miko Jussila, who have worked with Nightwish, must have played well, because we had a really Amorphis and Stratovarius, for their debut’s good reaction and that made us really happy.” mixing and mastering. “There are lots of talented sound engineers in Japan and I have my favourites, but if we want to have a European heavy metal sound, why don’t we LOVEBITES SAW IT FIRST HAND AT LONDON’S HYPER JAPAN EVENT just ask some European As for appearing at Hyper Japan, Mi-ya was heavy metal engineers? So that’s what we did,” fascinated to get a taste of the West’s infatuation Mi-Ya reasons. with her homeland. “Obviously, I live in Japan, Last year brought Lovebites to the UK for a so I know about cosplay and Japanese food, I’m headline show at heartland London metal venue surrounded by Japanese culture,” she points out. The Underworld, as well as two appearances at “But being on the aeroplane for 10 hours and the Japanese pop culture expo Hyper Japan. arriving in a different country with a completely “I was nervous before we went onstage in different culture where they are interested in London, but what we do as a band is the same; Japanese culture – not just the food, not just it doesn’t really matter if we’re playing in Japan

“THE UK’S OBSESSION WITH JAPAN IS OVERWHELMING”

They went do London’s Un wn a storm at derworld las t year

anime, but pop culture – the scale was just so big that it was really overwhelming. But it was a nice feeling!” The band are already recording a new fourtrack EP, Battle Against Domination, and Mi-ya hopes that the success of Lovebites will inspire more women to join Japan’s metal legions. “Ever since I started being a performer with A Drop Of Joker, everyone said to me that female musicians have less power, male players have more stamina, but I don’t care about that,” she says. “I just want to play what I want to play. If there’s a message I have for girls wanting to be in a band, I would say that you don’t have to drop your femininity and be as macho as a guy, and you don’t have to dress up and be pretty and cute. Just do what you want to do.”

AWAKENING FROM ABYSS IS OUT NOW VIA JPU

Five other bands setting Japan ablaze ALDIOUS

Often credited with launching this unexpected scene, Aldious’s 2010 debut album, Deep Exceed, was the top-selling independent album in Japan on release, reaching #15 on the Oricon charts. Don’t let the Disney-style ballads put you off; when they get heavy, they produce power metal full of grandeur.

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DOLL$BOXX

Another band that formed from the remnants of other groups – in this case, Gacharic Spin and Light Bringer – Doll$Boxx play a giddy blend of pop, metal riffs and electronica. Shout Down is a perfect example, with bursts of death metal growls, a hugely catchy chorus hook and gleefully over-the-top guitar workouts.

BAND-MAID

Impossible to miss in their signature uniforms (a reference to Japan’s maid cafés where girls in costumes serve and entertain guests), Band-Maid have played The Underworld and performed at MCM London Comic Con. Their sound isn’t too far from Halestorm and their new album, World Domination, has just been released.

EXIST†TRACE

Musically, exist†trace draw upon alternative and gothic metal, although their earliest records leaned towards death metal, with vocalist Jyou switching between clean singing and growling. Their androgynous image shows their roots in the visual kei movement and their inclusion on the Silent Hill soundtrack introduced them to international audiences.

MARY’S BLOOD

Recommended by Mi-ya, Mary’s Blood have opened up for Dragonforce and Marty Friedman, so they surely know a thing or three about shredding. Their most recent album, FATE, is a charging belter of a record, packed with riffage. “They’re more like a Japanese metal sound, but they’re good,” says Mi-ya.

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ANDREW W.K.

YOU DON’T KNOW ANDREW W.K. Tense. Distraught. Anxious. These are not words you’d normally associate with the Prince Of Party. And yet, on an unsual encounter in Chicago, we found a man ﬁnally facing down his demons NFI;J Û<C<8EFIÛ>FF;D8EÛÝÛG@:J ÛA<I<DPÛJ8==<I

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ANDREW W.K.

ven with a baseball cap pulled low over his face, the man that he wants listeners to feel as though his music bears an everyman walking into the room is unmistakable. White T-shirt. White voice, not an individual one – and the flow is disrupted by three short jeans. Shoulder-length dark hair. The only thing missing is motivational speeches. his trademark bloody nose. “I recorded those almost sort of spontaneously, and had a very hard Andrew W.K. arrives alone today. No manager, no time listening to them afterwards,” he admits. “Because that was the publicist. He reaches out his hand and politely greets us, most exposed thing. The album is so laboured over, and the layers of before making himself comfortable on an old chest in a quiet corner of music bolster me and make me feel bigger and stronger and more powerful this chilly photo studio a couple of hours outside Chicago. We ask if he than I am when it’s just me talking – not even singing – alone, where wants to sit on the high chairs in front of the flashbulb-studded vanity you have the power of melody to infuse your voice with beauty. But, I’m mirror. He declines. We ask if we can sit next to him. He declines again; glad they’re on there.” he prefers to sit opposite interviewers. What follows is an exceptionally The album fits with his much-publicised commitment to Party Hard. intense couple of hours – unexpectedly so for an encounter with the He’s written extensive columns, essays, letters and tweets about what self-described King Of Partying. that actually means, going beyond the conventional meaning of getting Bursting onto our screens in 2001 with his riotous video for Party Hard, drunk with mates and cutting right to the heart of living a meaningful Andrew W.K. split opinion. To some, he was the crusading idealist we life. When we ask how much of him as a person is in the record, and how needed, creating anthems that encouraged people to let go. To others, much of it is Andrew W.K. the performer, he talks of how they both he was a joke figure who was ruining heavy music. Yet his career expanded cyclically feed into the “mission”. into new realms: he co-founded New York club Santos Party House “That’s the same thing. I feel like I’ve been given the opportunity to (though it’s since closed), hosted the children’s gameshow Destroy Build generate this life-affirming feeling – literally like a life-force feeling. Destroy, DJ’d on Black Sabbath’s 2013 tour and became a motivational This mission for me is that if someone says, ‘Oh, there’s that Andrew W.K. speaker, even giving a talk at the Oxford Union. Now he’s poised to guy,’ I want the feeling they get to be like they just took a big breath, release his first true rock album since Close Calls With Brick Walls – 12 years or they just drank a bunch of coffee. They feel like they’re alive and they ago. But he is worried. can do something with it. But I wanna get that out of it, too. That’s what “You realise that time can go by very quickly – especially when you’re Andrew W.K. is supposed to be for me – to make me feel amped-up about partying very hard,” he deadpans. “And for better or worse, so much of not being dead.” what I’ve had the privilege of doing has been presented to me as Have you struggled with depression in the past? opportunities, meaning a lot of what I’ve wound up doing, I didn’t choose “That was the beginning of the whole musical thing, back when I was to do in the traditional sense of coming up with a particular project. You five years old, with my piano teacher playing me songs,” he explains. start to realise that some of the best things that you’ve ever done have “It was realising that there were few things that made life feel different. very little to do with you. You just showed up for the assignment.” And it wasn’t just a surface difference, it was an internal, physical He is visibly disturbed, his body tense. At the same time as getting these difference. The mind is just there to interpret, at best, what’s actually amazing breaks, like partying with the godfathers of heavy metal, there going on in your body. And music made me feel alive. Every time. It was was some unsettling static in the background; something intangible and sort of like this orgasmic feeling.” unnerving. He feared he There has long been an was failing to take control aura of mystery around of his own destiny. Andrew W.K.. In the “It was at times very mode of a self-help book, confusing and distressing,” his language is deeply he sighs in frustration. analytical, reflective “I thought maybe I was and intimate, yet he being really irresponsible. never gives too much :I<8K@E>ÛDLJ@:Û@JÛC@=<¤8==@ID@E>Û=FIÛK?<ÛG8IKPÛB@E> I was looking around at other people that of himself away. In the late 2000s, there seemed very successful. ‘Are they setting goals? Are they being more were rumours – which he strenuously denied – that his persona was cutthroat?’ I couldn’t deny that what I’d gotten to do brought me to where manufactured. There were also lengthy legal troubles that prevented him I was now, and I had to assume it was all for the best. And if I thought of all from releasing music in the US, leading up to his improvisational piano the other avenues I could have taken, it almost seemed disrespectful to all album, 2009’s Cadillac 55. We don’t even know what we’re doing in Chicago the good things that had happened. So it almost seemed like it wasn’t my today; last we heard, he had a place in New York. He tells us that he left the concern. Which is a very strange feeling – to think that your own life or city four-and-a-half years ago, that he and his wife, Cherie, have been work isn’t your concern. It is not up to me.” bouncing between short-term situations, and that it’s almost like being He believes in a higher power, though not necessarily the ‘Party Gods’ on the road in his early days. To make this album, he’s spent time in he flippantly refers to elsewhere in our conversation. It’s something that’s Illinois, Texas, California, New York, Florida, Wisconsin and Arizona. bigger than him, whether it’s another person or a group of people, or some “There was a time… things became shadowy in New York, maybe right vague “other forces”. Again, this idea, this not knowing, bothers him. That after Close Calls With Brick Walls up until now,” he says. “Some of the word comes up again: distressing. best things happened, like meeting Cherie, but also some of the most “I turn myself over to these forces. Whether they’re higher, or maybe challenging experiences. Real complications with business, decisions it’s a lower power,” he says, brow furrowing and staring hard into the I made that came back to bother me and haunt me and challenge me. middle distance. “That’s the real question – that’s where it can get very And there was also an effort where I thought that if I could go against distressing, because you think, ‘Well, maybe I’m doing the exact opposite myself enough, I could become someone else. And so having a home, of what I’m supposed to be doing.’ for example, was a real effort in thinking that if I did that, I was going “Now, for the first time, I’m trying to listen to a voice inside that has to feel this happiness – be like a real person. But deep down inside, always been there, but I never had the courage to listen to 100%. And you’re just building up more and more tension against your true since I’ve been listening to it, I’ve definitely felt a level of… I guess joy. self. And I think I’m now trying to just do what I’m meant to do, A kind of quiet, subdued, maybe even melancholy joy, that I’ve never felt instead of what I think I should do.” before. Where all of the dread that surrounded a lot of my activities or We press him on his personal circumstances, but decisions has been removed.” he won’t be drawn. If he’s angry, he doesn’t show it. Although for a large portion of our chat, ew album You’re Not Alone is the result of he adopts listening to that voice. It is, he says, the record he’s been trying to make since 2005. A bombastic, euphoric, fist-in-the-air set of major-key songs with guitars and piano at the heart, it plays out like a soundtrack to the most uplifting musical you’ve never heard. The lyrics acknowledge the hardship of the human experience, but advocate pushing through. The vocals are multitracked – he’s previously commented

“ANDREW W.K. MAKES ME FEEL AMPED-UP ABOUT NOT BEING DEAD”

56 METALHAMMER.COM

ANDREW W.K.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so much more to Andrew W.K. than partying

METALHAMMER.COM 57

ANDREW W.K. the pose of Auguste Rodin’s statue, The Thinker, oddly enough on display in Chicago’s art museum. Body hunched, chin resting on fist. He explains that he doesn’t want any peripheral circumstances surrounding his life to cloud his mission, and falls back on the analogy of a basketball player who needs to score goals. The player is still himself when he’s on the court, but he’s using his body and mind to focus on the task, and the space is clear of any unnecessary distractions. “I feel like I have this sacred chance that I’ve been given to try to hit this mark,” he says. “And I don’t want anything to stand in the way of that. I’ve seen how my own weaknesses can. Which doesn’t mean things I’m removing are bad things, like my family, or personal stuff – I just feel like it’s a sacred space. I don’t want to pollute this for myself, with myself.” What are those weaknesses? “Oh, just anything that anyone would be able to relate to, I imagine. Maybe not on the level that I am afflicted with these things. But negativity, resentment, anger, laziness – all the negative emotions. And there’s ways to use them, in the background, very effectively. I can be very motivated by what might seem like petty competition, and revenge fantasies. If that gets me up that day, and pushes me to do the work, that’s just as good. It’s probably not the highest mode to be working in, but whatever gets the work done.” Our time with the Party King is almost over. Far from the crazy funtime we thought it might be, it’s been a brain-straining philosophical conversation that has prompted as many questions as it has answers. Despite having achieved his aim of making a moving new record – which unashamedly fills the listener with that intended rousing life-force – Andrew W.K. still seems troubled. We ask how he is feeling. “Right this second?” Right this second. “Well, maybe…” he pauses to consider his options. “Slightly distraught. Because I want to do a good job, of the interview and with the photoshoot, and I don’t have control over it. I always wanna feel like I did the best I could, for the opportunity.”

“HOW DO I FEEL RIGHT NOW? DISTRAUGHT” C@B<ÛDFJKÛF=ÛLJ Û8E;I<NÛ?8JÛKFÛ=@>?KÛF==Û?@JÛ@EJ<:LI@K@<J

And there he is again, worrying. He is a man who has made a career out of his coping mechanisms, who has turned optimism into a lifestyle, and has managed to sweep thousands of music fans along with him. For someone who keeps people at arm’s length, he’s exceptionally real. Ever reaching towards that higher state of being, he wants to leave the conversation on a positive note. “The last thing I’ll say is that before this album, there was a lot of confusion. And coming out of that confusion, one thing I was always clear on was that there was always certainty about music, and that I could really count on it. And I hope this album gives that clarity to other people. That music is this higher power, and we can embrace it as a type of real truth.”

YOU’RE NOT ALONEÛ@JÛFLKÛEFNÛM@8ÛDLJ@: =FIÛE8K@FEJ Û8E;I<NÛN B ÛKFLIJÛ@EÛ8GI@C ¦ÛJ<<ÛG ~ Û=FIÛ;<K8@CJ

58 METALHAMMER.COM

Why trawl Instagram for life inspo? We choose some of the best motivational quotes from new album You’re Not Alone ‘They say that nobody changes, but I’m living proof that they do, because I’ve found the answer, and you can find the answer, too.’ Almost Sesame Street like in their kaehda[alq Ûl`]Ûdqja[kÛlgÛEver Again are [ge^gjlaf_dqÛj]Ykkmjaf_ ‘But when they tried to push you down, you just stood your ground, you kept on going.’ @^Ûl`]Ûogj\kÛg^ÛKeep On Going tell us Yfql`af_ Ûal¿kÛl`YlÛj]kada]f[]ÛakÛYÛnajlm]

’Life is very intense, but it doesn’t mean it’s bad. Understanding this is what partying’s all about.’ 8f\j]oÛN B Ûj]eaf\kÛmkÛg^Ûl`]Û`meYfÛ [gf\alagfÛgfÛThe Feeling Of Being Alive ’We must never lose sight of the parts of life we’re clear about – the parts that bring undeniable and reliable joy.’ ?]ÛZjaf_kÛgmjÛ]pakl]f[]ÛaflgÛ h]jkh][lan]ÛgfÛl`]Ûkhgc]f¤ogj\Û Confusion And Clarity

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME BTBAM (left to right): Paul Waggoner, Tommy Rogers, Blake Richardson, Dan Briggs, Dustie Waring

What would you do if you found yourself alone, and realised your dreams were being broadcast to the world? Between The Buried And Me are stuck in their own, dark imaginations…

“W

WORDS: HANNAH MAY KILROY

hen you write concept albums, it can be hard to have a human connection with the character. I wanted to bring some humanity to the story, so I thought, ‘What would the worstcase scenario of my life be?’ And that would be to lose my wife and son.” Tommy Giles Rogers Jr., the frontman of Between The Buried And Me, is no stranger to concept albums dealing with dystopian, sci-fi themes. Since the North Carolina band’s formation 18 years ago, in order to weave the stories that complement their dizzying, technical yet heavy progressive metal, Tommy has explored lyrical ideas from self-induced comas (2015’s Coma Ecliptic) to connecting with others through

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dreams (2011’s The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues and 2012’s The Parallax II: Future Sequence). But with their new, double album, Automata I and II, Tommy took the concept from his own personal idea of Hell. In Automata, the main, unnamed character wakes up alone in a cabin in the woods, and frantically tries to find his wife and son. But what he doesn’t realise is that he’s actually in a dream sequence, and his dreams are being broadcasted around the world as entertainment by a company called Voice Of Trespass. While it sounds like The Truman Show or an episode of nightmarish dystopian television show Black Mirror, Tommy hasn’t actually seen the Charlie Brooker-created series – “I hear it’s like a modern Twilight Zone, which I’m a huge fan of, so I’m sure I would enjoy it,”

he says. But he was inspired by the state of social media and what constitutes entertainment in the modern world. “Social media has been an influence on my writing for a while,” Tommy explains. “Coma Ecliptic was heavily influenced by the idea that we are part of a society that always wants more, but don’t know why. I think a lot of that is because we are seeing people’s lives in constant rotation and they’re showing us what we think we want to see, not arguments or shit they have to go through on a day-today basis. If you’re just a kid in high school following these celebrities online and you think, ‘This is what life is, I’m not achieving that’, it creates depression.” But, Tommy reasons, the pressure works both ways; celebrities and public figures have to deal with the other side of the coin – something that he can also relate to. “Automata is about how everybody is at their wits’ end at what entertains society at this point,” he explains. “It’s like a new form

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME

of entertainment: broadcasting people’s dreams. I thought that was an interesting concept. I related that to a lot of things I see in the entertainment industry, and how these people are just viewed as entertainment and not people. We don’t care about how the pressure we’re putting on them interacts with their real lives.”

one of the best singers who’s ever lived. But I never really dived into his lyrics until after he passed; I never knew how good, heartfelt and sad they were.

behind the artist need them to be out there making money; I think Elvis was an example – he was notoriously just fed drugs constantly to be able to perform.” For Tommy, this realisation and the reality of mental health in the entertainment business is something that needs to be acknowledged. “As someone who follows these people, you forget that you’re kind of involved in it, you’re watching this,” he muses. “It’s something that I think about, and it’s starting to be exposed a lot more. At the end of the day, we are all people, and everyone has problems and are going through shit. So we’re putting it out there, hoping the discussion happens because of it. And hopefully, if people are dealing with things like that, they can realise that Between The Buried And Me are thinking about these things as well.”

“KIDS CAN BECOME DEPRESSED BY COMPARING THEMSELVES TO CELEBRITIES”

hen Tommy was in the middle of writing Automata, a tragic event occurred that shook the music world: the suicide of Soundgarden’s frontman, Chris Cornell. It resonated with him, not only because he was a big fan of Chris, but because of the themes he was exploring in the album. “Chris Cornell’s death really influenced a lot of the lyrics,” Tommy explains. “He’s someone I’ve always admired; vocally, he’s probably

TOMMY POINTS OUT THE NEGATIVE SIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA

“His death really hit me hard,” he continues. “We weren’t in the exact same situation, but he toured, and had a family. It looked like he had literally everything I’ve ever wanted: he’s got more money than he could imagine, he’s in a successful band, he tours, he has a solo project and a family. You think these people are picture-perfect, but you find out they have a lot of pain. “There are a lot of instances recently where depression is a big part of these people’s lives, and it’s kind of pushed to one side. People

METALHAMMER.COM 61

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME

BTBAM: delivering a double dose of heavy in 2018

– though, he insists, this isn’t just because of utomata will be released in two parts: at the end of the day that’s our concern. We’ve the first is out in March and the second will the intense subject matter. never been ones to force a sound out and not “It wasn’t something we intended to do,” follow in the summer. The sheer density sound like ourselves.” he says. “We’re actually a very ‘in the moment’ of the album was a key reason why the band Despite the dark subject matter of Automata, decided to release it this way. the album actually has a positive “Our albums are long,” Tommy outcome and message. begins. “We know there are fans “That’s one thing I did plan,” who will dive in 100%, but Tommy says. “I guess with other I wouldn’t say that’s the majority. concepts I’ve written, they had So we thought, ‘What if we give horrible endings: in Parallax our fans two opportunities to get everyone dies, literally; the new music, two moments to character in Coma… woke WHILE TOMMY DIDN’T KNOW THE SOUNDGARDEN FRONTMAN, HE IDENTIFIED WITH HIM get excited about something up and died, so I wanted to band – a lot of people think that, because it’s new from us this year?’ From a fan’s perspective, create some hope in Automata. intricate music that takes you to different that’s awesome. “Musically, the last song, Blot, has got a lot places, it’s forced. But it’s not – it’s a very “We also hope the second half of the album of hope, and actually has a grunge feel to it; organic process. We kind of just ride a lot on will get more recognition,” he continues. I was writing lyrics for it when Chris died, and our own, and then put our songs together. “There are really long albums, and even if it was this weird moment of everything kind “From day one it sounded more aggressive, I love the band, sometimes I don’t get through of lining up. At the end, the public realise but I really think it showcases everything the whole album. So if we do it this way, that they’re trying to be better people, the we’ve done up to this point – when it was done, people might listen to the second half more; main character is in a good place. At the end, I thought, ‘This feels like a ‘best of’ album.’ I think it’s really strong.” we’re all in this together.” It has moments of the old stuff, and the weird, Tommy also agrees with Metal Hammer different moments we’ve been known for, but when we comment that Automata is a lot AUTOMATA I IS OUT ON MARCH 8 it all feels like Between The Buried And Me and heavier than their last album, Coma Ecliptic VIA SUMERIAN

“CHRIS CORNELL’S DEATH HIT ME HARD AND INFLUENCED A LOT OF THE LYRICS”

BTBAM aren’t the ﬁrst band to explore what happens when we dream. Here are four other albums about the mind’s shadow side

Brutality Will Prevail

Sleep Paralysis EP The title says it all; the 2011 three-song EP from these Welsh hardcore lads explores the experience of sleep paralysis, particularly in the title track, which perfectly evokes the horror of the sensation with the lyrics, ‘I’m drowning in the sea of the unknown / My hands are tied but my eyes are blind.’

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Haken

Visions London-based progressive metallers Haken are keen on concept albums, starting with their 2010 debut, Aquarius, that told a tragic story of a mermaid. For their second album, 2011’s Visions, they tell the story of a young boy who dreams of his own death, and ultimately spends the rest of his life desperately trying to avoid this fate.

Chelsea Wolfe

Abyss Chelsea Wolfe’s fourth album includes appearances from Mike Sullivan of Russian Circles and Dan Phillips from True Widow, and explores the condition of sleep paralysis. The gothic cover art recalls Henry Fuseli’s 1971 painting The Nightmare, while the music melds doom and folk to perfectly envision the nocturnal phenomenon.

Myrkur

Mareridt Danish singer-songwriter Amalie Bruun was inspired by her horrifying nightmares involving demonic deer and scorpions when making her latest album as Myrkur, 2017’s Mareridt. Therapy made her realise that by writing down her night terrors, she could exorcise them by transforming them into a dark piece of Nordic folk and black metal.

ALESTORM

In 2008, a pirate metal band from Scotland broke into the metal scene with one of the most ridiculous debuts in history. A decade later, they’re still here. How did this happen?! WORDS: RICH HOBSON

t’s the quintessential festival scene: We’ve always been sad and embarrassing, so songs aren’t even about pirates. Sure, they sang a field in Europe, thousands of faces people can just stick with us forever.” about pirates, but Led Zeppelin sang about stretching into the distance, all Christopher is both self-deprecating and Vikings and you don’t hear people say, ‘Oh, Amon captivated by the spectacle onstage. good-humoured, frequently joking about how Amarth! You’re just ripping off Led Zeppelin!’” A band, instruments in hand, feeding ludicrous it is that he has been able to build Instead, they channelled the wave of Finnish on the din as everybody roars along to a whole career out of singing metal songs about folk metal that was gaining momentum, taking every word. Heads bang. Horns are pirates – all stemming from a single song that inspiration from Korpiklaani, Ensiferum and raised. Bodies… row? This isn’t he wrote at high school in Perth, Scotland. Turisas, and adding in the over-the-top sound Metallica, Iron Maiden or Guns N’ Roses playing “I was, like, 16 or 17. At lunchtime, when of countrymen such as Children Of Bodom. a headline set – it’s Alestorm at Graspop 2017. everybody would go out and smoke, drink and “We brought a lot together for our sound,” “There was a sea of says Chris. “At the time humans – humans as far as in Scotland, a lot of the the eye could see,” says local bands were playing WE ARE FULLY BLAMING YOU FOR THIS SHIT, CHRISTOPHER BOWES Alestorm vocalist (and only hardcore, metalcore and remaining founding member) sludge – lots of downtuned riffs. Christopher Bowes, remembering the band’s We had big, stupid melodies and solos, so we party, I was just sitting in a music room playing insanely oversubscribed set. “The set-up is two decided, ‘Right, that’s it – let’s be different, piano like a good little nerd. I came up with stages side-by-side, and we could see people and make something that sounds like it should a song that was essentially a drunken sailor watching us from the far end of the wrong stage made in a forest in Scandinavia.’ It eventually song, but metal,” he remembers. “It’s funny, – it was ridiculous!” morphed into something about pirates and got because it’s probably the most important thing Common sense dictates that any metal band a bit out of hand...” I’ve ever done – this stupid little song became who can shift over 500,000 records worldwide, Their transformation into pirate metal the basis for the last 10 years of my life!” fill fields and clubs alike throughout Europe and pioneers almost complete, Battleheart changed The song – Heavy Metal Pirates – actually beyond, and potentially lay claim to kickstarting pre-dates Alestorm, and was originally written their name to the punnier Alestorm, quickly a whole subgenre would be a Big Deal. But with secured a record deal (“They said, ‘This sounds and released for Christopher’s first band, Alestorm, common sense seldom comes into great – we can market the crap out of pirates!’” Battleheart. Decidedly more power metalplay. Largely dismissed by critics as a joke band, Christopher laughs) and set out on their oriented than Alestorm, Battleheart the band are nonetheless going strong on the first-ever tour in March 2008. But it wasn’t all nonetheless laid the foundation for the more 10th anniversary of their debut, Captain smooth sailing. At their first gig, supporting bombastic sound that would bring Chris and Morgan’s Revenge. Fifth album No Grave But The Turisas and Norther in Northampton, Chris’s co so much success – and before you ask, no, Sea, released last May, reached their highest keytar strap broke as soon as he walked onstage. they weren’t influenced by chart positions yet and led to “I was nervous – as you can fucking imagine long-running, history-obsessed a summer of festival madness. – and my keyboard falls off. Going from there metallers Running Wild. It’s fair to say that this is more to here, it’s fucking nonsense.” “In our early days we were than just a flash-in-the-pan The tour might have been a baptism by fire, compared to Running Wild a lot,” gimmick thing, then. but Alestorm managed to solidify their Christopher says, clearly “We just have fun,” Chris buccaneering reputation. And with those first exasperated with the explains. “I think it helps that shows came their first fans. “Fifty people chased comparison. “It’s kind of we’re not cool; by the very our little camper van down the street saying ridiculous when you consider essence of being cool, you have how awesome we were,” Christopher remembers. that they’re a German speed to be not cool at some point. “We’d never been on tour, so we thought that metal band and most of their

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ALESTORM

The Captain Morganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Revenge line-up (left to right): Dani Evans, Gavin Harper, Christopher Bowes, Ian Wilson

METALHAMMER.COM 65

ALESTORM

We don’t know how this is still a thing either. Sorry, everybody

was just how it was. It took us a while to realise that there was something special going on.” By the time the band played their first Graspop in June 2008, thousands of fans were turning up to sing along to songs that had only been around since January of that year. Alestorm were ready to hit the high seas. “It blows my mind, getting to go to daft countries,” Christopher marvels. “I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would get to tour the world and not have to mortgage myself to do so.” hat was once a single fun song on an EP had become an entire subgenre, with similar bands appearing around the world. Pirate metal was born. “I do wonder about that sometimes,” Christopher admits. “But there are bands like Swashbuckle who have been doing it a little bit longer – they started at the same time as us, totally coincidentally. I think it’d be silly for us to take all the credit, but I do feel like the wider scene is our fault, in a way.” Love it or loathe it, pirate metal has certainly shown its staying power over the past decade, confounding critics as to how a simple gimmick could enjoy such longevity. In the 10 years since

releasing their debut record, Captain Morgan’s Revenge, Alestorm have built one of the most vocal – and visible – fanbases in metal. Their last three

AND YET, ALESTORM ARE STILL HERE, 10 YEARS ON

albums have entered the charts, with No Grave... landing Top 50 positions in the UK, the US and Germany. Their Spotify Top 10 tracks boast well over a million plays each, with the top song, Drink, hitting the 10million mark. While Christopher is upfront about how ridiculous his band are, there’s no denying he speaks with pride, and is quick to defend the wider genre from detractors. “We do the metal thing first, pirate second,” he says, resolutely. “What’s wrong with wanting to be in a band and have fun? I know what we do is a little bit stupid, but at the end of the day I like to think it’s well-crafted; it’s serious music but with a very whimsical approach.” Metal is full of bands who are able to embrace the genre’s most ludicrous elements and

Alestorm (Seven-foo are still going strong t duck just out of shot . )

capture the imagination nonetheless. Iron Maiden have forged a near-40-yearcareer doing it, Amon Amarth headline festivals because of it and Ghost embody its enduring appeal. The success of Alestorm isn’t anomalous – it’s coded into metal’s very DNA to love something unabashedly joyous and heavy. And they’re still rising. “I’m glad that we didn’t hit our peak three albums ago,” Christopher says. “It’s on the up and up, and shows are still getting bigger. I like to think we put on a good show, too – we do have an inflatable duck, after all.” It might not be Eddie just yet, but the band do have big plans for the future. “If we ever headline a UK festival, we’ll get a giant duck. But until then, our seven-foot one is fine.” You heard it here first, folks. Alestorm in the running for Bloodstock 2020 – after all, there’s plenty worse that could happen that year…

CAPTAIN’S MORGAN REVENGE – 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION IS OUT NOW VIA NAPALM

Always wanted to get into pirate metal, but didn’t know where to start? Here’s your guide to jumping right in... THE BANDS:

Swashbuckle: good lads to listen maybe just not be seen out with

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to,

Swashbuckle: Metal first, pirates second – just how we like it. Red Rum: Think Amon Amarth if they were pirates. Rumahoy: Epic songs with just a little Celtic tinge. The Dread Crew Of Oddwood: Ye olde authentic pirate shanties. More heavy mahogany than metal, mind. Lagerstein: Epic songs about drinking epic amounts of booze. You’d never tell from their name…

THE EVENTS:

Ragnarök: Stretching the definition of ‘pirate’ to breaking point, Ragnarök is a pagan metal festival in Germany. 2018’s event will feature Alestorm and Enslaved. Whitby Tortuga Festival: One of the many frequent ports of call for Red Rum, Whitby Tortuga is held every summer in aid of Yorkshire Air Ambulance. 70,000 Tons Of Metal: What’s more metal than Alestorm on a boat? Alestorm playing with Cannibal Corpse on a boat setting sail to the Caribbean.

THE LOOK: Smiffys (www.smiffys.com): Mid-priced costumes for the fan who wants the look, but not the authentic sense of ensuing poverty. Dress Like A Pirate.com (www.dresslike apirate.com): Does what it says on the tin, in all shapes and styles. Plenty of piratical accessories on offer, too. Pirate Fashions.com (www.pirate fashions.com): For when costumes just aren’t enough, and you have to actually be a pirate.

THAT KEEPS Through darkness, desolation and depression, Conjurer have had to slay some demons to stay alive. Channeling their pain, they’ve emerged with the best debut album of 2018

“W

e’re not actors. We’re up there letting you into our minds.” Welcome to the sound of depravity. Welcome to the bleakest show on Earth. Welcome to Conjurer. Rising like a mutated Sasquatch from the swamp, the Midlands riffmongers are about to unleash their debut album, Mire: a seven-track odyssey into the darkest recesses of the human psyche, oozing with a cancerous, pitch-black tar. Formed in 2014 from the partnership of guitarists and vocalists Brady Deeprose and Dan Nightingale, the destructive duo found themselves another pair of cohorts – Jan Krause (drums) and recently Conor Marshall (bass) – to complete their four-pronged attack on the soul. We first spoke to Conjurer two years ago upon the release of their promising I EP, but Mire is a more accomplished and darker piece of art. “There’s a lot of stuff to do with self-reflection, looking at yourself and realising that you’re not perfect, and there are things about you that

68 METALHAMMER.COM

you actually fucking hate,” says Brady today, speaking to us over the phone from his house in Northamptonshire, having just finished a shift at a local hi-fi store. Admitting that Conjurer gravitate towards the negative side of life, Brady says that the songs on Mire come from “a place of honesty”. The notion of depression, in particular, rears its head throughout the album, most notably on Thankless and standout track Hollow. While Thankless refers to both Dan and Brady’s separate relationships with the condition, Hollow is an unflinching glimpse into the realities of self-harm. The song previously existed in another form, but Dan requested the band didn’t play it live for a while because the lyrics were “too hurtful for him”. Thankfully, Dan is now in a place where he can perform the song, but the lyrics are still emotional for him, adding more weight to the track when Conjurer play it live. “‘As blood rushes the blade, and all colours fade, I commit this pyrrhic crime to destroy its source and mine. Bloody your hands! If I have to

tear at every tendon to rid me of this leech, I’ll bloody my hands! Thus my perdition ends. I have found a way. I lay hollow’,” recites Brady. “Suicidal thoughts, thinking about self-harm, those things can feel like a way out of a horrible mindset. Knowing how fucking down Dan was when he was writing these lyrics, it’s just really horrible to think about someone that you care a lot about feeling that way. I’ve had experiences with those kind of thoughts myself, people I’m close to have as well, so you think about all of that and it’s just that horrible, sinking feeling you get. I think about it during the song. All that horrible anxiety and shit that stops you from sleeping… that’s what I want to get out onstage. Performing in this band is how I sleep at night.” Conjurer’s colossal riffs and harrowing heaviness are borne from pain and anguish. Brady’s keen to stress they’re authentic; not some po-faced shitehawks pretending to have feelings for monetary gain. “I feel that a lot of lyrics and concepts in mainstream music can feel like a generic, ‘I’m sad about a situation that may or may not be

MAIN IMAGE: JESS JONES

WORDS: LUKE MORTON

CONJURER Conjurer (left to right): Jan Krause, Brady Deeprose, Dan Nightingale, Conor Marshall

YOU UP

AT NIGHT.”

real and it may or may not be me who’s sad about a nifty spreadsheet. They have played shows and cites the likes of Mastodon, Converge and Yob as it, but here’s a song about it,’” he explains. all-dayers with death metal bands, hardcore influences, but also mentions Portland indieSome of the songs reach outside personal bands, tech-metal bands and everything in folks The Decemberists to mix things up a bit. experiences. Take Mire’s opening track, Choke: between, honing their bludgeoning riffs and But it’s Californian sludgelords Armed For a reaction to the idea of celebrity and how it crushing walls of noise until they could snap Apocalypse that Brady says were Conjurer’s only has become a poisoned chalice due to the Godzilla in two. direct influence, specifically their records Defeat dubious morals and ethics of the tabloid press, “I want to write the kind of music that I’d be and The Road Will End. it focuses on Amy Winehouse. “She was just excited about as a fan, and we definitely do “They’re the heaviest things ever put to tape,” a woman who wanted to play music,” he says. “That was the starting he begins, “and Choke is about how point for us, to be the UK’s answer sickening it is that we have a culture to that. But we swiftly got a lot of gutter press and paparazzi that just more progressive.” looks at everything through this And progression is already on horrible lens, literally, and how it the horizon. Despite the four-piece PERFORMING LIVE IS THE ONLY WAY BRADY CAN SLEEP AT NIGHT can affect people.” only just releasing their debut album, At the opposite end of the album, the doomthat,” says Brady confidently. “What I love about Brady reveals they’re already writing record laden Hadal is about the deepest part of the ocean this band is that you can’t just say it sounds like number two. and how humankind still doesn’t know what’s “Everything we have so far is vastly different. ‘budget this or that’; you can’t immediately down there. Elsewhere on the record, Conjurer We’re not going to be one of those bands that pigeonhole the music. I think it was Phil tackle the topics of the universe’s existence (Of does the same thing over and over again. There Anselmo who said, ‘Ripping off two bands is Flesh Weaker Than Ash) and a human’s passage to are some riffs on our new stuff that aren’t even plagiarism, ripping off 50 bands is originality,’ hell after death (The Mire), drawing from the 14th- and that’s basically what we do,” he laughs. riffs; it’s fucking horrible and so exciting!” century poem The Lyke-Wake Dirge. Put short: “I have no idea what’s coming next,” he says “We really make it a point to not write things fluffy songs about ex-girlfriends, this ain’t. cryptically. “Hopefully the next record’s just that sound too much like things already written; gonna break people.” we want every idea that comes to the table to be You have been warned. unique in its own way.” aptised in the UK sludge/doom/stoner Despite admitting to spending 90% of his scene (despite, as Brady says, having more time listening to hip-hop, you can’t knock in common with Lamb Of God than Conan), MIRE IS OUT ON MARCH 9 VIA HOLY ROAR. Brady’s knowledge and love for all things heavy. Conjurer have racked up an immense amount of IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING TO COPE, Throughout our 90-minute conversation, he gigs – the details of which Brady has stored on SAMARITANS ARE AVAILABLE ON 116 123.

“WE HAVE TO GET THIS ANXIETY OUT ONSTAGE”

METALHAMMER.COM 69

DISTRICT UNKNOWN

T H I S

I S

District Unknown deﬁed religious oppression to form a band in Afghanistan. But, as a fascinating new documentary shows, it all came at a heavy cost WORDS: TOM O’BOYLE

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DISTRICT UNKNOWN

“R

ock? That music is not allowed. It is permitted to kill people who choose this path.” This is the brutal verdict passed by a Taliban judge within the opening minutes of a compelling new documentary, RocKabul. It details the formation of Afghanistan’s first – and to date, last – metal band, District Unknown, whose journey took them from fleeing the country in fear of death, to the stage of Metal Hammer’s Golden God awards in 2015. RocKabul leaves viewers without a shred of doubt as to what these five youths, and by extension, the youth of Afghanistan are faced with, trying to grow up amid the rubble of a country decimated by war, corruption and fanatical religious oppression. Lead singer Yousef explains. “Imagine – I decided at 16 I wasn’t Muslim. From that time, it was hard to live until the day I left. I couldn’t say it to anyone; you Qais, Pedram, Yousef, Qasem and Lemar risked everything for metal have to lie to society just to blend in, and every night it kills you.” RocKabul was made by Australian no idea how to start photojournalist-turned-director Travis After a lifetime of religious oppression, a band. “I had a little Beard. A keen musician metalhead, he screaming into a microphone was cathartic. Travis Beard felt com District Unknown’s pelled to tell studio at my house,” is speaking to Hammer from Brisbane “I felt so good,” enthuses Yousef. “It was incredible story explains Travis. “I said, dangerous, but part of me was saying, ‘You on the eve of flying out to premiere the ‘Come over once film at the International Film Festival know what? You’re actually being part of a week, use my gear, slam it out and see how it in Rotterdam. For seven years, he lived through a movement which later on people are gonna goes’. They came over and they were abysmal! the West’s war on terror in Kabul, Afghanistan. understand – that we played music to send They couldn’t keep time, they didn’t know It was a capital city diminished by decades of a message. To tell people that if you have chords, so we started to mentor them.” war, but nevertheless known by its wartime creativity, don’t be afraid, there’s nothing They learned fast, inspired by progressive population of expats – soldiers, aid workers, wrong with you.” metal bands Opeth, Tool and Porcupine Tree. journalists, diplomats and businessmen, as By this point, Travis’s ambitions had Through the course of the film, we see them the ‘Kabubble’, a place where, thanks to an expanded. Alongside the Sound Central mature as men and musicians, growing increased Western military presence, foreigners music festivals he’d begun to stage at Kabul’s increasingly accomplished with their were relatively safe to live and work. Institute France, an arts and culture centre, instruments and confident as performers. “We had this expat community that was very he aspired to take the band’s music to a wider Travis, a skilled photographer, had no actively trying to improve the situation but at audience, suggesting to Yousef that they experience as a director, but felt compelled to the same time flooded the city with money,” perform in his home city of Mazar. document their journey. reflects Travis. “A lot of money meant “Travis had a mobile stage, a truck. We’d play, “I wasn’t very good at using a camera, I just a lot of parties. 2006-2011 was a golden time.” then move around to another area,” remembers hit record,” he admits. “I got their first moments Yousef. “It was completely horrible. People Life in Kabul is quite unlike anything you of discovery. As they progressed as a band, may be accustomed to, the city divided into started throwing stones at us, it was crazy.” districts where But things got people live in worse. The band’s compounds. “You final performance have very high walls took place at Sound DISTRICT UNKNOWN SINGER YOUSEF WAS ARRESTED FOR PLAYING METAL – it’s a very private lifestyle,” Central festival during its triumphant Travis explains. “You could have a party, alcohol, I progressed as a filmmaker, so the film gets third year. The event was finally open to the better on many levels as it goes on.” rock music. You had Afghan friends, co-workers, Afghan public, after previously being strictly so word got around.” invite-only due to persistent threats of violence, Travis brings this vibrant scene to life for and TOLO, Afghanistan’s biggest TV station, magine being unable to express yourself the first time on film, the Afghan community filmed the whole thing, catching District artistically in any way. Islam teaches that introduced to the comparative excesses of Unknown’s incendiary performance. The effect you must devote your entire life to Allah. Western culture. “You worked your day in an on the audience, for whom such aggressive For youths with eyes opened to a much wider Islamic republic and abided by the laws, but excitement was utterly alien, is electric to behold. world via TV and the internet, this is a big ask. at night you could get away with a lot. If I got The next thing they knew, the bandmembers’ Many simply wish to be free – to live life on their stopped by the police, I’d show my passport faces were on national TV, labelled as Satanists. own terms. For District Unknown, picking up and talk my way out if it!” he laughs, before Not only was Yousef expelled from university, he instruments was the ultimate act of defiance in adding a sobering thought. “That was the the face of an establishment that would imprison was arrested and interrogated. “They thought heyday – before Westerners were viewed as I was blasphemous,” he explains. He was gravely or murder them for committing such acts. a threat; before Isis.” afraid of going to prison, knowing what would Such pressures eventually took their toll on It was at such parties that District Unknown Lemar. Spooked by their increasing notoriety, he likely happen to him. “If that was gonna happen, came to be, so named after Kabul’s districts, it’s better that I die,” he says. “People knew left the country, making way for new frontman articulating the four members’ outsider status. about me – I’d likely be stoned to death. I was Yousef, a lithe energy bolt with a shock of spiked “As far as we knew, they were the only four hair, who brought much personality and presence completely in shock.” people in Afghanistan into metal,” laughs Yousef was freed only because of his father’s to the band, inspired by a love of nu metal – even Travis. Brothers Pedram (drums) and Qasem reputation – “In Afghanistan bribery, if his vocal abilities left a lot to be desired. (bass), and cousins Qais (guitars) and original connections always work.” A respected doctor, “I was a shitty vocalist!” he laughs. “I was out vocalist Lemar were introduced by Travis and he had always raised Yousef to be open-minded, of tune most of the time, but the energy I had, his friends. They got along instantly, but had as had the other bandmembers’ parents, the mentality, they wanted me to stay.”

“I WAS SCARED OF BEING STONED TO DEATH”

METALHAMMER.COM 71

DISTRICT UNKNOWN

UNHOLY RACKET Yousef chooses his favourite District Unknown tracks from their album, Anatomy Of A 24 Hour Lifetime TWO SECONDS AFTER THE BLAST “Our bassist, Qasem, was caught in a suicide bomb attack at the Indian embassy when he was queuing up for a visa. He experienced it. One second there was a beautiful view and the next, everything was destroyed.”

CANCER BY DESIGN “An instrumental song that I really like. The guitars are very calm, there’s nothing distorted in it, nothing heavy. The riffs are offset by some ambience – you could say like some sort of post-metal or post-rock. I like that it’s a bit different for us.”

REQUIESCENCE/KILL THE BEAST “Requiescence is kind of an intro for the last track, Kill The Beast. I like it because it has this vibe, this feeling of an intro to a horror movie. Kill The Beast is very heavy and aggressive. We’re telling the people, whatever is trying to put you down, kill that thing – kill the beast.”

PORTRAITS “We made a video for this song. The concept was based on the movie The Departed. We got inspired by the idea of the snitch; the rat as a portrait of those bad Afghans in our society not letting people do what they want.”

Women’s Day at Kabul’s Sound Central Festival in 2013. Only female performers, audience and press were permitted to attend. The venue was later attacked by a suicide bomber

“THE OLDER GENERATION HAVE PUSHED THE COUNTRY TO TOTAL CORRUPTION” YOUSEF IS WARNING YOUNG PEOPLE NOT TO FOLLOW THAT EXAMPLE

who remain in Afghanistan to this day, their names concealed in the film. One by one, the bandmembers fled; Pedram, Qasem and Qais to the USA, and Yousef to the UK, where he’s studying IT. A year after their final performance at the Institute France, it was destroyed by a suicide bomber. In 2015, alongside Travis, Yousef lifted the Global Metal award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods, delivering a triumphant speech to a baying throng of metalheads in celebration of the freedom of expression and global fraternity this music represents. District Unknown are on hiatus, but hope to one day reunite, to return to Afghanistan to try and help make it a better place – a place with a future. “We want people to understand that it is their responsibility to make change for the better,” says Yousef. “Before you judge others, study, educate yourself – just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t mean it’s bad. Don’t follow the footsteps of the older generation who have pushed the country to total corruption.”

“I met some of the guys at the Metal Hammer Awards,” he explains. “They stuck out; they seemed really excited to be there and I tend to gravitate towards that kind of energy. My label, Koolarrow, works with underground music from all over the world, so the fact that they were a band from Afghanistan raised my interest – you don’t hear about that every day. Travis was recording a small slice of Kabul life with an authenticity I wasn’t getting from other documentaries.” It’s Travis’s hope that RocKabul highlights the struggles of everyday people in Afghanistan, showing there is more to this rich cultural tapestry than conflict. Since he left at

the end of the war, what little music scene there was in Kabul has once again been extinguished. Perhaps one day, District Unknown will be able to return to the country and carry on their galvanising metal resistance. “We all struggle in our lives in regards to what we believe, what we wanna fight for,” concludes Travis. “Metal is a really good way to get that frustration out both positively and negatively – a lot of people can’t make their point to a politician, but they can yell into a microphone and get the same satisfaction. It’s global – it crosses boundaries. It’s its own language. I’ve proven that by testing it in Afghanistan, of all fucking places, and it worked.”

KEEP AN EYE ON WWW.ROCKABUL.COM AND WWW.METALHAMMER.COM FOR DETAILS OF ROCKABUL’S UPCOMING RELEASE DATE

ocKabul is the culmination of a creative process that has taken three years longer than intended, due to a lack of financial backing. “It’s an indie project,” Travis explains. “It’s difficult without money behind you. It took returning to Australia and seeking funding to finish the film.” But the film’s harrowing, yet inspiring content has attracted plenty of attention, including Faith No More bassist Bill Gould, who came on board as an executive producer.

72 METALHAMMER.COM

District Unknown are venting via metal

148 PAGES !

METALLICA THE COMP LETE ST

ORY RIPPED FRO M THE ARC HIVE OF CLASSIC ROCK & S METAL HA MMER

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TURNSTILE

Turnstile (left to right): Franz Lyons, Pat McCrory, Brady Ebert, Brendan Yates, Daniel Fang

S I S I H T . . . W O N L A RE WORDS: LUKE MO

RTON

pulling in inﬂuences ds , es ap sh w ne to in rdcore er tren of bands twisting ha nge, they’re choosing authenticity ov e av w ng si ri e th g Turnstile are amon yond. Alongside labelmates Code Ora from the 90s and be

74 METALHAMMER.COM

TURNSTILE

ast year, Pittsburgh industrialised then there are other things that feel so natural – especially ones that require more melody. It’s savages Code Orange blew a new crazy to deny any of that stuff from seeing the hole in the arse of hardcore, light of day just because people expect your proving that you shouldn’t be band to stay in one kind of place.” limited by genre or sound. You Time & Space is certainly more than just another should make the music you want hardcore record. Sure, it’s a short, sharp attack to hear, inspired by whatever the hell you’re from the Reign In Blood school of thinking, with listening to. This message of originality and just two tracks breaking the three-minute mark, realness resonated with metalheads and punks across the world: there’s more to a band than the but stereotypical this ain’t. From the chilled, R&B interludes, to the Jane’s Addiction crunch genre they live in. Just ask Turnstile. “We’re a product of what we love about music,” of Can’t Get Away, to the speedfreak Motörhead rhythm of the title track, to the Status Quosays vocalist Brendan Yates. “Not letting your esque guitar lines on Big Smile, this is the sound be pigeonholed is very freeing. One song outcome of a band drawing far and wide from being influenced by James Brown or Sade might be a less obvious influence, but there are certain the rock’n’roll spectrum, taking inspiration from areas where others fear to tread. things that feel right to put into a song that the “The coolest thing is for bands to progress the energy of Turnstile will bring to life. Having that same way as individuals, being introduced to new broad view makes it refreshing to be in a band.” experiences and trying different things. Just as The seeds for Turnstile were sown back in the the same way humans grow up and learn stuff, all early 2000s, when Brendan and guitarist Brady Ebert were just kids. As neighbours in Baltimore, the time doing what they want to do because it feels good to do,” says Brendan “It feels right.” Maryland, it didn’t take long for the two punks to start making music together, recruiting some friends and then playing local youth events. t’s this intention to do what feels good, and “We just liked being the loudest band there,” not give a solitary fuck about a consensus, remembers Brendan. “If some kid was moshing boundaries or rules that’s led to an explosion to us, it was the coolest thing in the entire world. of young, exciting bands crashing into rock music I still have a VHS tape of the first time we played in the past two years – a large slab of which have a show and there was a moshpit. We came back been picked up by Roadrunner. Alongside to our house and watched it, like, a thousand Turnstile, the historic metal label have recently times. That was before we knew about scenes signed Code Orange, Marmozets, Creeper and Milk or genres. Music at that age is limitless; music is Teeth. None of them fit the remit of the label’s just music and I wanted to play loud and heavy.” legacy, but they’re all contributing to the canon Before long, Brendan was introduced to of rock music, refusing to bow to convention. hardcore by an older kid in the neighbourhood “It’s an interesting time for music when a who took him to a life-changing gig. “People were hardcore band can be nominated for a Grammy,” moshing and says Brendan, going crazy, commenting I was making on Code Orange friends – it just making the felt really shortlist for cool,” he Best Metal remembers. Performance. “It wasn’t the “There are WHY TURNSTILE’S BRENDAN FELL IN LOVE WITH HARDCORE same as going plenty of cool to see Paul McCartney, which was my only frame bands happening that might not be getting of reference for what a concert was like. You go the light of day, but they’re doing pretty cool to the shows and feel intimidated, in a cool way.” things that inspire me.” In 2008, Brendan joined underground Brendan is helping some of these bands reach hardcore heroes Trapped Under Ice on drums, the audience they deserve with his own label, Pop touring relentlessly until 2010, before meeting Wig, which he runs with drummer Daniel Fang and up with Brady again to make music together. Trapped Under Ice vocalist Justice Tripp. Last year The songs they recorded in Brendan’s basement they put out Trapped Under Ice’s third album, would become Turnstile’s first 7”, Pressure To Heatwave, and Brendan reveals they have plenty Succeed. After recruiting his best friends, more releases planned. “It’s been really cool to everything happened “naturally”. help those bands put music into the world,” Speaking to Brendan on the phone from the US, enthuses Brendan. “It’s such an exciting time for the word ‘naturally’ comes up repeatedly, as does music and it’s only going to get more exciting.” the idea of individuality. Turnstile is a unit of five But among the recent influx of boundarypeople, all bringing different experiences and breaking, young, hungry, and visionary artists, knowledge to the mosh melting pot. Alongside his where does a band like Turnstile sit? Ostensibly love for Bad Brains and Madball, Brendan grew up a hardcore band, but with much more going on listening to his parents’ Motown collection, his beneath the surface, they’re like an iceberg of sister’s punk mix tapes, Nirvana, Metallica, Prince alternative music. Rather predictably, Brendan and everything in between. And it’s this is reluctant to pinpoint an exact position. embracing of diversity and refusal to ingest “We just exist exactly like the entity we are. We the same sounds over and over that’s led don’t limit ourselves or only play with a certain to Turnstile’s new album, Time & Space. kind of band. Playing music and being loud is all “I’ve written so many things that have we really want to do – so that’s what we’re doing.” been influenced by something so far out And beneath all the hyperbolic bullshit, isn’t of the world that we’re in, and when we that all you really want from a band? come together and play, it doesn’t feel right for the band,” says Brendan. “But TIME & SPACE IS OUT NOW VIA ROADRUNNER

“YOU FEEL INTIMIDATED IN A COOL WAY”

METALHAMMER.COM 75

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METALHAMMER.COM 77

THIS MON BAND TH’S AN GO D U OD , GLY

JUDAS PRIEST

Firepower COLUMBIA

Birmingham’s heavy metal pioneers restock their arsenal WHILE SABBATH REMAIN the genre’s undisputed originators, Judas Priest have contributed more than any other band to heavy metal’s sound, visuals, vocabulary and culture over the last four decades. Since Rob Halford’s return to the fold in 1999 not everything they have released has raised the rafters, but 2005’s Angel Of Retribution was a triumph and there were more than enough great moments on the bloated but intermittently brilliant Nostradamus and 2014’s bullish Redeemer Of Souls to keep such an extraordinary legacy intact. At this point in time Priest have absolutely fuck-all to prove and could justifiably plunder the nostalgia circuit until, presumably, guitarist Richie Faulkner – who replaced the legendary KK Downing in 2011 – is the last man standing. Instead, they’ve just made their best album in 25 years. The first thing you’ll notice about Firepower is how insanely huge it sounds. Andy Sneap hardly needs an introduction here, but both he and coproducer Tom Allom deserve to be acknowledged for drawing the finest, most fiery performances imaginable from a band that, with all due respect, will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2019. Just as he brought Accept back from the dead and nudged Megadeth towards the triumph of Endgame, so here Sneap’s intuitive but meticulous approach has had a profound impact. Firepower is ruthlessly contemporary and gleams with an almost futuristic polish, delivering more punch per square sonic inch than Priest have wielded in a long time. The campaign to get Andy Sneap behind the controls for the next Metallica album starts here.

78 METALHAMMER.COM

But as dazzling and monstrous as the production is, Firepower’s true brilliance lies in the songs themselves. Comfortable in their own studded leather clothes, this is the sound of Judas Priest reconnecting with what they do best: honing and crafting songs until they hit peak metallic efficacy and, for the most part, leaving experimentation to one side. The first single, Lightning Strike, has been rapturously received for precisely this reason; it sounds like classic Priest, but updated and given a 21stcentury power boost. Halford sounds fucking great and back to top form, Faulkner and fellow six-stringer Glenn Tipton serve up glorious solos and some sublime twin-lead histrionics, the rhythm section is tighter than a shrew’s anus and it’s all done and dusted within three and

a half minutes. Heavy metal perfection, basically, and it’s a trick that they pull off repeatedly on Firepower; not a single one of these 13 songs passes without delivering a giant chorus and at least one riff that will make you want bang your head until it snaps off. There are balls-out ragers (Evil Never Dies, Necromancer, Flame Thrower), anthemic mid-paced rumblers (Never The Heroes, Rising From Ruins) and even a low-slung and gnarly doom metal tune (the frankly magnificent Lone Wolf). Meanwhile, brooding closer Sea Of Red could well be the finest ballad Priest have written in 30 years. So we’re calling it now: this is the best album Judas Priest have made since Painkiller. Yes, it’s that good. If you love heavy metal as much as they do, you won’t want to miss this immaculate celebration of what is, let’s face it, the whole reason we’re all here in the first place.

FOR FANS OF: Iron Maiden, Accept, Arch Enemy DOM LAWSON

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH.

Rob Halford

| VOCALS |

FIREPOWER FEELS LIKE A CELEBRATION OF CLASSIC PRIEST… IS THAT FAIR? “Well, we always want to make a classic heavy metal album, but we also always want it to be heavy and relevant and vital in today’s metal scene. You’ll be able to put Firepower up against most of the recent metal releases or anything else that comes out this year. Priest has its place and a role to play, more now than ever, which is pretty crazy after nearly 50 years.”

Judas Priest: ﬁring on all cylinders

PROPHECY FULFILLED Angel Of Retribution EPIC – 2005

Metallers rejoiced when Rob returned to Priest for their ﬁrst album together since Painkiller. Angel… delivered the goods and showcased a revitalised band with anthems to burn. And yes, preposterous closer Lochness was brilliant. Yes, it was.

ROB’S POSTRETURN RELEASES

Nostradamus

Redeemer Of Souls

5 Souls EP

Depending on who you ask, Nostradamus is either an extravagant masterpiece or a bloated clanger. In truth, it’s a bit of both. Prophecy and the title track are ﬁrst-class Priestbangers and while overlong, it’s hard to deny that Nostradamus is very metal.

KK’s departure could have derailed the Metal Gods, but new guitarist Richie Faulkner slotted in perfectly. Redeemer showcased a band with newfound energy and a spring in their step. A handful of killer songs was more than enough to keep the faithful happy.

A limited-edition, red vinyl EP featuring offcuts from the Redeemer Of Souls sessions, this was aimed at Priest obsessives and vinyl junkies. Which, as it turns out, is most sensible people. Only 2,500 copies exist. Have you got a spare one? Asking for a mate.

EPIC – 2008

EPIC – 2014

WORKING WITH TWO PRODUCERS IS A NOVEL IDEA. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT? “We’ve all listened to a lot of Andy [Sneap]’s work and everything he does sounds great, doesn’t it? You’re always thinking, ‘Those drums sound fucking amazing!’ Ha ha ha! We just started wondering what it would sound like if we worked with Andy and then mixed that with the textures and sounds that Tom Allom is known for. They’re both such skilled producers. I suppose it was an experiment. We didn’t have a clue if it would work and it could’ve been a disaster, but they connected brilliantly and the results are obvious, I think.” WHAT’S THE SECRET TO SOUNDING LIKE A MUCH YOUNGER BAND? “Ha ha! We are knocking on a bit, to be fair. You just feed off each other’s passion and abilities. We were laying the tracks down live in the studio, which we hadn’t done for a long time. When you look at each as you play the song, you can really sense that passion and you can feel what the live experience will be like as you play. The vibe was fantastic, I must say. There was definitely some metal magic in the air.”

METALHAMMER.COM 79

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME

BTBAM: change is their only constant

Automata I SUMERIAN

North Carolina’s prog mavericks chart a new course IN JUST SHY of two decades of constant action, it’s been a fantastical and thrilling trip to watch the metamorphosis of Between The Buried And Me. From their early mathcoreinspired days through to the sprawling polkameets-death metal mashup headfuck of the classic Colors to the sci-fi prog rock of The Parallax II: Future Sequence, BTBAM have delighted in keeping their listeners on their toes. But, fine album in isolation though it was, 2015’s Coma Ecliptic was the first time it felt like the band stayed in the same place, offering more of the same rather than the sharp left turn fans had grown to expect. With that in mind, Automata I offers a fascinating insight into to where Between The Buried And Me are heading as a unit. Have the wanderers finally settled, or are there more territories to discover? In typical BTBAM style, there’s actually an argument to be had for both outcomes here. Opener Condemned To The Gallows does start with the kind of robotically futuristic space prog that the band have dealt in over recent years, but they haven’t forgotten to throw in some pretty extreme blasting and Tommy Giles Rogers Jr’s full-throated growl to keep those who like their music heavy satisfied. Only two minutes in and BTBAM have allayed any fears that they might go ‘Full Opeth’ to rest. In fact, the way that it’s followed up by the monolithically groovy riffing of House Organ

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you’d be forgiven for having to stretch your mind back some time to remember when Between The Buried And Me last sounded so brutal. It doesn’t keep up that level of intensity throughout the entire track, instead descending into a dark piano lament that recalls the best of Porcupine Tree in the period after Steven Wilson first discovered Meshuggah. With that kind of picture painted you’d expect it to be a lengthy prog epic, but the song clocks in under the four-minute mark, showing that this is a band who have mastered their craft to such an extent that they can weave their narrative using a brevity that is considered anathema to this genre.

Automata I is a record that delights rather than shocks for the most part, the band cherrypicking all of the strongest nuances from the vast buffet of their back catalogue and organising them into a coherent whole. But familiarity isn’t a problem when the consistency levels are this high. And with this only being the first half of a double album it never feels bloated or outstays its welcome as so many other records that display this level of unorthodox musicianship and complexity often can. In fact, it’s closing track Blot that leaves the album heading out on a high: a 10-minute, Eastern-tinged masterpiece that swings from sounding like a Muse soundtrack to dystopian war to Enslaved at their most ethereal via everyone from Radiohead, to Battles, to Sikth. It’s a thrilling way to sign off, and just leaves you licking your lips in anticipation for the second part of the Automata story, which will be released later this year. You get the feeling that longtime fans will be counting down the seconds to hear where they go next as soon as the final strains of Blot ring out. We never really thought they’d stay too still, and Automata I proves the point emphatically: Between The Buried And Me’s creative train is still rattling forward at quite a pace.

FOR FANS OF: Animals As Leaders, Porcupine Tree, Periphery STEPHEN HILL

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH.

AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

American Nightmare RISE Boston hardcore crew return with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it third album

American Nightmare are tortoises rather than hares when it comes to their work rate. They’ve released just two albums in two decades, and been blighted by enforced name changes (they were Give Up The Ghost for a while), bandmembers coming and going, plus splits and reformations. Better late than never, though, and this short, sharp shock of an album (Dream clocks in at an economical 36 seconds, while the longest track, 3.33-minute, gothic-tinged Colder Than Death, is practically a prog epic in comparison) finds the Bostonians on fiery and combative form, with a declaration of ‘Fuck everyone and everything’ on American Death. It’s punchy, accessible hardcore designed to get the pit raging, frontman Wes Eishold’s nihilistic roar filled with fury. Their time to transcend the scene may have passed during the wilderness years, but this little firecracker of a record has plenty of spark for fans.

FOR FANS OF: Sick Of It All, Cro-Mags, Black Flag EMMA JOHNSTON

AMID THE BARREN AND LOST

Exiled From The Sun culminates by smashing against the cliffs. Sean Gibson pulls off the Randy Blythe trick of savagely serrated vocals that can still carry a hook, with both Nameless Slave and I Play The Victim Well offering white-hot slabs of metal that get their hooks in. However, the grandiose midpace of Womb Dance In The Void and the Maiden-worshipping gallop and lavish leads of closer The Beautiful Architecture Of Lies show they’re more than just merchants of taut yet malicious metal that aims straight for the most exposed body part.

FOR FANS OF: Mastodon, Junius, Red Fang MATT MILLS

AURI

Auri

NUCLEAR BLAST

FOR FANS OF: Machine Head, Lamb Of God, Devildriver ADAM REES

Nightwish mainman ﬁnds another muse to navigate by

BLACK SPACE RIDERS Amoretum Vol. 1

BLACK SPACE German space rockers branch out from their base station

THE ATLAS MOTH Coma Noir

PROSTHETIC Cinematic misery from Chicago’s post-doom detectives

Metal and 1940s film noir rarely cross paths; Coma Noir proves that they should more often. A loose concept album, the fourth disc from post-sludge maestros The Atlas Moth tells of a hard-boiled detective keeping tabs on a shadowy cult. But deep down, the narrative is just an excuse for this Chicago quintet to perpetuate beautifully monochrome imagery and immersive, depressive atmospheres. Despondent wails punctuate darkly downtrodden guitars, with a middling pace making room for a plethora of ear-catching grooves. Once clean and Paradise Lost-like choruses sneak into the fray on Galactic Brain and the avant-garde The Streets Of Bombay, the album cements its status as a

Auri: a breath of fresh air

quintessential slab of weighty, foreboding doom. Sumptuous rhythmic passages dominate the bulk of Coma Noir, resulting in an an admirably fluid yet unwavering experience.

A boisterous blend of psychedelia, post-punk and big ol’ riffs, Black Space Riders’ fifth full-length sails into familiar sonic realms. Opener Lovely Lovelie is fattened with Monster Magnet chunkiness as gravelly, Neil Fallon-esque barks slam against fleeting death growls. It’s a punch to the sternum, followed by an invitation to dance alongside Another Sort Of Homecoming’s arse-shaking rhythm. Laden with croon-along melodies and subtle keys, stepping back from the full-on electronics that marked their Beyond Refugeeum EP, the Riders’ latest offering is a spaced-out vessel of sonic excellence. Vocally, their Bowie and Tom Waits-isms really shine on Movements and Soul Shelter (Inside Of Me). They can’t just be written off as a gaggle of German stoners getting too adventurous either, because these songs are superbly crafted, the likes of Fire! Fire! (Death Of A Giant) outshining any Black Pyramid singalong. It’s, like, a journey, maaan.

FOR FANS OF: Clutch, Monster Magnet, Motorpsycho ALEC CHILLINGWORTH

METAL’S VERY OWN

Peter Pan, Tuomas Holopainen, has finally made his first substantial solo venture from Nightwish (that is, if we’re not counting Scrooge… which we are not) on Auri – a largely acoustic and orchestral album of lullabyesque ditties featuring the vocal talents of Finnish pop singer Johanna Kurkela. It’s not their first collaboration, with Tuomas having previously written a song for Johanna called Satojen Merien Näkijä (incidentally, a lovely, unofficial sort-of sequel to The Islander). She’s a different breed entirely to the singers of Nightwish, but that’s in no bad way. Her voice has an exceptionally youthful quality that perfectly conveys the childlike wonder that is at the heart of much of Tuomas’s work. This is not a metal record, but to the trained ear of any Nightwish fan on songs like the wistful I Hope Your World Is Kind, there are clear echoes of Nightwish tracks such as Turn Loose The Mermaids, not least in the folky melodies and gentle pipes that make it unmistakably a Holopainen composition. The darkly dramatic Skeleton Tree and Johanna’s hypnotic, chant-like vocalisations contrast with the beautiful Desert Flower, with violins that could melt a heart of steel and the low, familiar voice of Troy Donockley. On both See and Aphrodite Rising there are even shades of psychedelia, which make for a welcome diversion. This is a stunning work that inhabits the same world of awe as Nightwish: a world of crashing oceans and a solitary lighthouse beam in the dark that will be ever so familiar to Tuomas’s fans, and a strangely intriguing comfort to everyone else.

FOR FANS OF: Ambeon, Mostly Autumn, Nightwish CATHERINE MORRIS

Shadow Self Psalms

SELF-RELEASED London quartet deliver a new British metal gospel

Unlike countless other debutants who attempt the kitchen sink approach, this London quartet succeed in nailing the basics, with subtle atmospheres and steamhammer rhythms underpinning impressive and infectious lead breaks. Embers Of The Desolate snaps and jolts from one riff to the next while the groove-laden

EMPEROR IX Equilibrium CANDLELIGHT APRIL 1999

Ahead of a brace of Metal Hammer-sponsored UK dates from the Norwegians, reviewer Malcolm Dome blew a gasket over Emperor’s third album, suggesting that IX Equilibrium saw the fathers of black metal “throw off the shackles” of

“church burnings, sensationalism and silly make-up” to reinforce a place “among the very best of the genre”. Awarding it nine out of 10, Malcolm called the album “awesome”, suggesting that its contents retained “all the power and dark overtones

of the past”, adding “a severe implacable focus”, “with a sound so massive it threatens to tear the speakers apart”. In summation Malcolm observed: “It’s the music that matters, and IX Equilibrium is awesome.” He was right, too.

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CABAL

Mark Of Rot LONGBRANCH/SPV Denmark’s pit-stirring brutalists hold the deathcore centre ground

Myles Kennedy ﬁnds a new power source

MYLES KENNEDY

Year Of The Tiger NAPALM

Alter Bridge singer trades hard-rocking anthems for acoustic ballads

BEFORE THE LISTENER even

presses Play, it’s clear that Year Of The Tiger is a personal venture for hard rock maven Myles Kennedy. With its title dedicated to the Chinese zodiac of 1974 – the year that Myles would lose his father to illness – the frontman’s solo debut is a slice of acoustic Americana fuelled by Led Zeppelin III-like blues and lingering lamentations. Year Of The Tiger’s opening title track is unabashed in showing off the album’s folkish inclinations, beginning with a sole resonator guitar that quickly gives way to raspy vocals. The Great Beyond is a more grandiose affair, rife with wails that echo the late Chris Cornell, before the quicker Devil On The Wall packs the slick stringwork of a Chuck Berry cut. Ghost Of Shangri La enchants with high-flying verse melodies, setting up the steadily building, old-school rock’n’roll of Haunted By Design. If any entry in this cavalcade of country is going to win over fans of Myles’s heavyhitting work with Slash and Alter Bridge, it’s definitely this midpoint highlight. While the abrupt start to Mother and the climactic refrain of Nothing But A Name eagerly continue Year Of The Tiger’s more energetic tangent, the album’s final moments then see it return to its undeniably American style, ensured by the slow emotion of Love Can Only Heal. One Fine Day makes for a sombre yet apt closing suite, cementing Year Of The Tiger’s status as an extravaganza of US proto-rock that throws a plethora of 50s and 60s inspirations into its enormous cauldron. And while metal’s most purist fans may not be wholly enamoured with it, Myles Kennedy’s first solo offering is a masterful exercise in soulful beauty.

FOR FANS OF: Led Zeppelin, Chris Cornell, Me And That Man MATT MILLS

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Ever since Suicide Silence publicly shat on the subgenre from a great height last year, deathcore has been under more scrutiny than ever for being overdone and stale. But sometimes people like their creature (dis)comforts. Cabal have assembled an arsenal of roaring vocals, sub drops and stabbing guitars to set up a safe space of barbarity. It’s hellacious, it’s heavy, and it’s recognisable crowd-killing fodder. Never straying into no man’s land, Mark Of Rot is a constant barrage of hate that leaves you numb, yet ready for more. Embracing the techier side of instrumentation, the chaos is orchestrated and there’s a lot for fans of the complex to snap their necks to, while still windmilling like a hairy ceiling fan. In short, if you’re a deathcore fan, you’re going to like what Cabal have to offer, but it’s not reinventing any circlepits.

FOR FANS OF: Thy Art Is Murder, Oceano, Martyr Deﬁled LUKE MORTON

DESDEMONIA Anguish

MIGHTY MUSIC Big-sounding, Fredrik Nordström-infused melodeath from a tiny country

Calling Desdemonia Luxembourg’s finest metal band might be damning them with faint praise, with their quality catching the attention of in-demand producer Fredrik Nordström, whose mix gives an impressive edge and bullish snarl to the band’s fourth album. Hitting the melodic death metal ground near Amon Amarth’s heroic

tremolo riffing, but with plenty of Michael Amott’s larger-thanlife classic riffs thrown in, the likes of the title track and opener Reaper Of Souls are drenched with irresistible power. While it may be frontheavy, what sets the album apart from being another Swedish tribute is the powerhouse rhythm section that threatens to take the glory from the field, with frontman Tom Dosser’s thunderous bass jostling for position and drums that dominate the menacing Revenge. Abysmal also offers a keen knowledge of Bay Area thrash and the fiendish Out Of Sight recalls Megadeth fronted by Frank Mullen.

FOR FANS OF: Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth, Dissection ADAM REES

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX Horrific Honorifics SEASON OF MIST

Six truly astonishing covers, including a sublime space-gaze drift through Swans’ The Golden Boy That Was Swallowed By The Sea and a monumental rebuilding of No Means No’s Victory. Further proof that CBP can do no wrong. [8] DOM LAWSON

EARTHLESS Black Heaven

NUCLEAR BLAST San Diego’s tripped out power trio finally find their voice

After years of releasing instrumental stoner jams in small batches of two or three extended tracks at a time, San Diego’s peyote-eyed power trio have adopted a more conventional approach on their fourth studio outing. Most notable is the introduction of guitarist Isaiah Mitchell’s vocals, and it’s a change so welcome as to beg the question: what the hell took them so long? On the utterly ripping End To End, Isaiah’s soulful vox dovetail seamlessly into the band’s smouldering electric blues attack, while Electric Flame showcases a mighty encapsulation of the speed and potency that gather when the trio fall into their rhythmic pocket. Recorded in the same studio where stoner rock pioneers like Kyuss and Queens Of The Stone Age cut their teeth, the new material erupts with vitality and inspiration. Closing with the slow psychedelic burn of Sudden End, Black Heaven is a trip well worth taking.

FOR FANS OF: Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Fu Manchu JOE DALY

LOATHE/ HOLDING ABSENCE This Is As One SHARPTONE

Grim grooves and emotive hardcore lock horns on this split EP from Loathe and Holding Absence, but it’s the former who, over two tracks of nightmarish ambience juxtaposed against menacing tech, land lasting bruises. [7] DANNII LEIVERS

OWL MAKER

Paths Of The Slain SELF-RELEASED

Blistering grooves collide with spacey desert jamming for a high-octane drive down the alt-metal superhighway. Mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk (Code Orange, Power Trip), what the material lacks in originality it delivers in pure sonic force. [7] JOE DALY

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH.

EKTOMORF Fury

AFM Derivative yet primal groove metal from the heart of Europe

Hungarian veterans Ektomorf sound almost identical to 90s Sepultura; the second Fury roars to life with the lightningfast guitars, tribal drumming and embittered shouts of The Prophet Of Doom, it’s the first thought that comes to mind. However, simultaneously, there’s a surefire appeal to both this band and their new, 13th album. Fury is a cathartic ride, bolstered by the angered drive of frontman Zoltán ‘Zoli’ Farkas, who – as a self-professed man of gipsy descent – roars against prejudice, alienation and persecution. Cramming 10 songs into 34 minutes, Fury is also a direct aural assault with no filler, stretching out single refrains or riffs to their fullest extent on every track. It may not be unique, but this is a solid disc for any metal fan, enjoyable in its angst and headbanginducing simplicity.

FOR FANS OF: Sepultura, Hatebreed, Cavalera Conspiracy MATT MILLS

FORBIDDEN SEASONS Promise

TIME TO KILL Italian metalcore hopefuls fall short of their potential

Forbidden Season’s 2017 EP, Paramnesia, hinted at a band with hunger and a decent grasp of melody. So it’s frustrating that the Italian metalcore quintet have eschewed the opportunity to blaze a trail on their debut. Instead, Promise clings stubbornly to the genre’s deep-rooted template – if only the forgettable choruses of Thank You For The Venom and

Wormhole cleaved to the inside of your cranium with the same white-knuckle ferocity. Smatterings of electronica do add an atmospheric dynamic, but on the whole this is a samey record, laden with tinny production, repetitive Asking Alexandria-style riffs and thin melodies with no real spark of invention to lift it above the prosaic. It takes a lot to stand out from an increasingly homogeneous pack in this game, and Promise isn’t going to launch Forbidden Seasons into metalcore’s next stratum just yet.

the almost black metal percussion on The Other to each flutter of feedback on Weightless, Giver have spawned a monster, a thick, crushing mass, swallowing all it touches and forever moving forward at its own deadly pace.

LUKE MORTON

FOR FANS OF: Comeback Kid, Counterparts, Stick To Your Guns

FOR FANS OF: Asking Alexandria, blessthefall, Of Mice & Men

Ministry’s Al Jourgensen wants you… to stand up against the Philanderer In Chief

DANNII LEIVERS

HIGH PRIESTS Spinning

TRIPLE EYE INDUSTRIES Chicago’s scabrous riff-wielders embark on a wild ride

GIVER

Where The Cycle Breaks HOLY ROAR Cologne’s hardcore ruffians prepare to kick up a stink

Hardcore is kicking serious amounts of arse right now. Last year we had Converge, Code Orange and Employed To Serve pushing the genre to its limits, and 2018 is shaping up to be no different. Channelling the open-armed posicore of Comeback Kid and the ferocious UKHC of Bastions, Giver’s debut full-length unleashes wave after wave of rampage and destruction, but with the ability to shift between spacious melodies and slamming brutality like a switchblade. There’s a lot to digest in the 40-minute runtime, all of it oozing with menace and passion, but nothing is rushed. Each move is meticulously calculated and considered; from

It’s fair to say that Chicago’s High Priests are unashamedly in the thrall of chug lord John Reis, specifically his on again/ off again venomous project, Hot Snakes. However, while this debut album does purloin a few pages from the man sometimes known as Speedo’s songbook – especially on 10 Years – it manages to retain a feeling of freshness thanks to the explosive energy of their performances and it’s a feast for the ears for those who love off-kilter rhythms, head-cracking riffs and crunchy post-punk. Powerhouse drummer Mustafa Daka is a revelation throughout the 11 tracks and the former member of The Brokedowns calls to mind Dave Grohl in his prime during the likes of Control and Night Train. Ugly, arresting and uncompromising, High Priests’ sonic sermons should earn them plenty of new converts over the next 12 months.

FOR FANS OF: Mclusky, The Icarus Line, Hot Snakes EDWIN McFEE

ALBUM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE LUPUS

Kadavar

METALLICA Kill ’Em All

“It was the ﬁrst album I ever bought. I remember stealing some money and taking the bus to the next city. I used to spend many hours in this record shop. I usually wouldn’t buy anything, just listen to all the records I liked. But that day I bought Kill ’Em All.”

MINISTRY

AmeriKKKant NUCLEAR BLAST

Mad Uncle Al Jourgensen resurrects his outlaw industrial harbingers

AFTER THE DEATH

of guitarist Mike Scaccia in 2012, Ministry’s founding father, Al Jourgensen promised that 2013’s From Beer To Eternity would be the band’s final release. That was all before a real estate mogul/reality television personality with questionable business practices and even more questionable ethics was backdoored into the highest position of power in the nation that welcomed the former Alejandro Ramirez Casas and his family from Cuba in the 60s. In Al’s world, sentimentality is trumped – hur, hur – by the opportunity to express one’s displeasure and put America before a looking glass. He did it back in the 90s on Psalm 69 and the anger is equally palpable on this provocatively titled 14th studio album. As is de rigeur, AmeriKKKant is littered with soundbites (mostly political and many from the hairpiece-in-chief himself) weaved amid thick guitars, earthquake low-end and ‘Uncle Al’’s distorted vocal bluster. What’s most noticeably different is the album’s slow burn. Early tracks belie the fiery protest mood as it takes three songs for Al and crew – now featuring ex-members of Prong, Fear Factory and American Head Charge, alongside scratch-happy turntablist DJ Swamp – to gain momentum and not sound like they’re jamming on interludes. We’re Tired Of It is driving, choleric thrash welded with energised sample manipulation, Antifa calls out the alt-right with half-paced Bay Area guitar gallops while Wargasm unashamedly summons Jaz Coleman’s melodic grandiosity. AmeriKKKant isn’t perfect, but it is an above-average example of the artistic reaction many hoped would follow in light of The Donald proving that the system is broken and that Americans have put their country at the mercy of Nielsen ratings.

FOR FANS OF: Fear Factory, Marilyn Manson, Killing Joke CONNIE GORDON

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HUNTSMEN

American Scrap PROSTHETIC Apocalyptic tales from the broken heartlands of America

Monster Magnet: mindfucked... actually, maybe just fucked

MONSTER MAGNET

Mindfucker NAPALM

New Jersey’s veteran space rockers go into cruise control

BY THE TIME a band’s discography has reached doubledigits, they’ve usually established their schtick pretty well. And unless that schtick involves unpredictable genre-hopping, leaving the listener unsure what to expect from each successive release, surprises are usually thin on the ground. So it’s with some shock we learned that Monster Magnet’s 11th album consists of one single track of experimental, electro-symphonic folk-punk. Just kidding, folks. In the 27 years since Spine Of God’s release, Dave Wyndorf and co have never knowingly learned anything new… except perhaps for yet more efficient ways to skin up. Mindfucker comprises 10 tracks of utterly unremarkable, good-time rock’n’roll that barely possess two original ideas between them. Dave’s voice, not what it was after nearly 30 years in the business, is (deliberately?) buried in a muddy mix, but not so much that it’s impossible to make out the frankly mindbending number of times that he sings the word “bay-bay”. Sixteen. Sixteen times. But just as you’re losing hope, and the ability to hear Dave sing THAT word one more time, When The Hammer Comes Down hits you with the album’s best riff. In fact, the whole song absolutely slams, which makes the fact it’s the final track that much more egregious. Look, all of these songs are probably going to sound brilliant live and if you dig Monster Magnet’s back catalogue, then you’ll find something to enjoy on Mindfucker. Listen to it and you’ll probably have a good time. But why would you, when you can light one up, put on Powertrip, and have a fucking brilliant time instead?

FOR FANS OF: Clutch, Fu Manchu, Orange Goblin ROB BARBOUR

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The debut album from Chicago’s Huntsmen is steeped in Americana, articulating love and sadness for what their homeland represents versus what it’s become. American Scrap continues the story of their two preceding EPs, 2014’s Post War and 2016’s The Colonel – an uncomfortably apocalyptic tale given the current state of the US. Bury Me Deep and Pyre evoke a litany of classics, the affecting acoustic sorrows of Alice In Chains’ Jar Of Flies by way of War Pigs, vocalist Chris Kang’s workmanlike yarl channelling Bruce Springsteen as he degenerates amidst messy breakdowns into a snarl. Atlantic City’s snappy drums and stirring melodies provide the album’s emotive highpoint, building to a stomp, but as bombs fall on foreboding closer The Last President, you’re left with the distinct feeling that despite American Scrap’s high concept, it struggles to make you feel as much as it’s trying to.

FOR FANS OF: Alice In Chains, Neurosis, Wovenhand TOM O’BOYLE

THE LEGION:GHOST With Courage Of Despair

NOIZGATE Teutonic metalcore hopefuls fail to get with the times

Metalcore mob The Legion:Ghost claim to be “what modern metal sounds like”. If that’s true then metal hasn’t moved very far in the last 10 years. Real modern metal innovates and sadly there’s little sign of progressive thinking behind With Courage Of Despair. It’s lucky that their

choice of genre has appeal; throaty screams, breakdowns, triggered riffs and vocal melodies release the inner metal beast and when it clicks, especially on the bludgeoning The Counterweight, these Germans sound impressively tight. But using a rinse-and-repeat formula, their platter of uninspiring albeit well-produced love letters to Soilwork and Trivium with angry lyrics about the media and personal issues reminds us of something we already know: modern life can be hard. But modern life is also built on ingenuity and With Courage Of Despair is not.

FOR FANS OF: Soilwork, Scar Symmetry, Caliban HOLLY WRIGHT

PISSED REGARDLESS

Feed The Birds 7” CREATOR DESTRUCTOR

The latest from these San Diegans welds hardcore punk with thrashing death. With inspirations including Poison Idea, Exhumed, Accused and Ghoul, only a NASA-calibrated compass could direct you towards the sounds of the US’s West Coast more accurately. [7] CONNIE GORDON

MEGAHERZ Komet

NAPALM Rammstein’s industrial contemporaries pack a weightier punch

The name might not be familiar, but Megaherz are one of Germany’s original dark industrial metal – or ‘Neue Deutsche Härte’ – bands. Formed around the same time as Rammstein, they never reached such explosive heights but Komet could help them crash-land outside Deutschland. Bigger, bolder and harder than its predecessors, album number 10 is insanely catchy and packed with foot-stomping anthems influenced by their heavy peers. There are nuances of Pain, Eisbrecher (original frontman Alexander Wesselsky’s current band) and Deathstars, not to mention lashings of Rammsteinness. Megaherz were definitely listening to Mutter when they wrote Horrorclown; frontman Lex Wohnhaas even borrows Till Lindemann’s distinctive enunciation on the explosive track, which appears to be about a certain American president. There’s even a hint of The Sisters Of Mercy’s 1959 on the mournful Von Oben. Komet is a treat for fans of German ‘hardness’.

FOR FANS OF: Rammstein, Lord Of The Lost, Deathstars. NATASHA SCHARF

PERCEPTION Monolith

SELF-RELEASED

Taking cues from Northlane’s techier end of metalcore, but with far more aggro vocals, Perception’s second EP is a low-slung chugfest that riffs and roars. Nothing out of the ordinary, but a solid slab of mosh. [6] LUKE MORTON

THUUM

Through Smoke, Comes Fire SELF-RELEASED

The videogame-loving Bournemouth bruisers’ latest EP is a satisfyingly meaty affair that features four sludge and stoner-flavoured cuts. The blistering and bullish Hafgufa in particular feels like a big moment for the band. [7] EDWIN McFEE

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH.

NIGHTWISH Decades

NUCLEAR BLAST Finland’s symphonic metal behemoths take stock

Two decades and three frontwomen in, Nightwish’s latest and most visceral ‘best of’ has a lot of ground to cover, so dedicating the first 24 minutes to The Greatest Show On Earth does seem like a self-indulgent use of precious minutes. Yet it does illustrate how far the greatest symphonic band on Middle-Earth have come. Working in a reverse chronological order, this epic fest of grandiose, orchestra-laden thrills and spills highlights the superlative power of Nightwish, from the drum-machine smasher Wish I Had An Angel and the heroic Ghost Love Score to the gothic masterpiece The Poet And The Pendulum. It’s a shame that their anaemic eponymous demo closes the compilation when a tour de force like the omitted The Phantom Of The Opera would provide the ideal final punch, but otherwise Decades is a pitchperfect portfolio of worldclass symphonic metal.

FOR FANS OF: Epica, Sonata Arctica, Danny Elfman HOLLY WRIGHT

OREGON TRAIL H/aven

CZAR OF BULLETS Swiss post-hardcore unit get stuck in neutral

In today’s clickbait, tl;dr culture, it’s vital to make an impact instantly. Whether that’s through intensity or originality, music fans are forever in search of something they’ve never heard before, which isn’t an easy task – as Oregon Trail can attest. The Swiss four-piece have created a dark and gloomy mood-board, harnessing the bleakness and isolation of the snowcapped

mountains, but it’s hindered by a lack of experimentation. H/aven might have a bounce, but it’s retreading old ground, bringing nothing remarkable to post-hardcore’s already overstocked table. But the biggest downfall is its production. The aggro vocals dominate while the music is muffled. At times you can hear a band on the verge of breaking free, but OT revert back to the safety of familiarity, failing to resonate beyond a surface-level reaction.

rock, wonky psych-pop and all-out prog rock abandon. Closing epic A Winters Night On Sentinal Hill cranks up all three simultaneously, resulting in one of the most irresistible bad trips you’ll ever hear.

Oceans Of Slumber: impossible to resist

FOR FANS OF: Ghost, Vulture Industries, Voivod DOM LAWSON

FOR FANS OF: Ghost, Vulture Industries, Voivod LUKE MORTON

OCEANS OF SLUMBER

REJECT THE SICKNESS

THE OSIRIS CLUB The Wine-Dark Sea

INDIE RECORDINGS Dark psycho-delia from behind the velvet curtain

Still firmly in the elusive nutjobs’ miasmic, fever-dream world of cobwebbed velvet, cigars stubbed out on bloody carpets and the faint but persistent stench of laudanum punch, The Wine-Dark Sea feels like an exercise in subtle expansion. With several new shades of intoxicating yet more incisive songwriting, this is the most Osiris Club-sounding Osiris Club record yet – an effervescent blend of psychedelic rock, glowering post-punk and mischievous, scattershot prog. The likes of eerie opener Wormwood Grange and angular melodrama With The Giants share a little DNA with Ghost’s wilder moments, but here the madness is real. In spirit and sound, this belongs to the hazy limbo between ’shroom-addled space

The Banished Heart

The Weight Of Silence

CENTURY MEDIA

NUCLEAR BLAST Belligerent Belgian metallers go straight for the gut

Emotionally devastating, progressive doom from the Lone Star State

The way the sound of the metal scene has advanced over the last couple of years has been a joy to behold. But you also have to admire those bands who are digging in their heels and indulging themselves purely and exclusively in the sound of straightforward, naked aggression. Belgian quintet Reject The Sickness take a similar approach to bands like Devildriver, in that, seemingly, the only truly challenging thing about them is to see if their audience can shake their head clean off their shoulders. This is gruff, brash, powerful, instantaneously vicious metal music. Full stop. And while The Weight Of Silence is fairly predictable and onepaced, and will certainly struggle to make many end-of-year lists, if you don’t get excited by the snarl of a song like Saviour you may well be reading the wrong magazine.

FOR FANS OF: Devildriver, The Haunted, Heaven Shall Burn STEPHEN HILL

LAST ALBUM I BOUGHT XEN

Ne Obliviscaris

MEDICO PESTE

Herzogian Darkness “There’s so much quality coming from Poland currently: Mgła, Batushka, Outre, Horn Impaler, Plaga, Kriegsmaschine, Behemoth, Furia… and so I’ve been exploring the scene. This is ugly with a poetically tortured sensibility, and that distinct Polish vibe.”

WITH SECOND ALBUM Winter,

Houston’s previously little-known Oceans Of Slumber announced their musical experimentation and Cammie Gilbert’s captivating vocals to the world stage. While it still holds up two years later, the album now pales in comparison to their latest, The Banished Heart, which finds ever more affecting ways to pull you into its 65 minutes of emotional turmoil. Ostensibly drawing from the north of England’s Paradise Lost/My Dying Bride/Anathema axis of the early 90s, but shattering any notions of what constitutes a genre, every song weaves all manner of styles and ideas into its absorbing narrative. Blasts of drums erupt underneath mellow guitars one minute, subtle electronics navigate shattering riffs the next, never retreading the same ground. Opener The Decay Of Disregard traverses all manner of ridges and deep ravines as it pushes into every corner of the conscience while Etiolation anchors a plethora of tech metal bursts as it maintains its soulful identity. On musical terms alone, all this is enough to strip you defenceless, but it’s when Cammie envelopes the music in her gorgeous, melancholic voice that you realise you are on a soul-searching voyage. After towering pillars of death metal, At Dawn descends to evoke the same haunting beauty that Chelsea Wolfe and Myrkur enthralled the metal world with in 2017, while the fragile piano-led title track rises from Tori Amos’s naked vulnerability into cinematic grandeur. Yet it’s the simplest track, with the equally emotive voice of Evergrey’s Tom S Englund trading off with Cammie over repetitive, despairing riffs, that leaves the longest, most cathartic impression. Born of personal loss and anguish, The Banished Heart is an achingly honest masterpiece fraught with both upheaval and hope that connects both band and listener to a primal sense. Yet crucially, its individualism and boundary-altering bravery is progressive in the truest sense of the word and ultimately impossible to resist.

FOR FANS OF: Opeth, The Devin Townsend Project, Paradise Lost ADAM REES

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SCHATTENMANN Licht An

DRAKKAR Infectious German industrial metal with a hint of dark pop

And in the beginning there was… Kerry King

THE RISE OF LA THRASH METAL (PART 1)

Director: Bob Nalbandian METALROCK FILMS

A star-studded insight into the overlooked origins of thrash

DESPITE BEING THE

birthplace of three-quarters of the Big 4, Los Angeles isn’t widely remembered as a hotbed of thrash metal, especially compared to its Californian neighbour to the north. Director Bob Nalbandian’s new two-part documentary, The Rise Of LA Thrash Metal, aims to change that. Packed with dozens of interviews with scene veterans both legendary and obscure, the film serves as both a compelling heavy metal history lesson and a love letter to a local scene whose moment in the sun was fleeting, but whose impact still reverberates today. Narrated by David Ellefson – who also offers insightful commentary throughout – the 87-minute DVD begins by defining the city’s burgeoning thrash movement of the early 80s as an attempt “to play music both faster and heavier than their predecessors could have possibly dreamed,” with heavy inspiration from Venom, Motörhead and the NWOBHM movement. From there, we hear from the likes of Lars Ulrich, who waxes philosophical about the strong ties among local bands (“We were all united around the belief in this music, and it brought us together”), and Agent Steel/ Abattoir/Evildead survivor – and current Body Count guitarist – Juan Garcia, who laments being overshadowed by the Sunset Strip (“The hair metal bands gave the thrash scene a bad name”). Ellefson later echoes that sentiment, even admitting that Megadeth avoided playing shows in LA proper in their early days (“Once we got the band going, it was like, ‘Let’s get the hell out of here!’”). That might seem to undercut Nalbandian’s thesis, but subsequent segments on the multicultural nature of the local thrash scene and how Los Angeles acts such as Suicidal Tendencies successfully bridged the gap between metal and punk provide a compelling counterpoint. Overall, a heartfelt, if rough-around-the-edges, snapshot of a city and era whose legacies are loud and proud.

FOR FANS OF: Slayer, Dark Angel, Megadeth CLAY MARSHALL

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Schattenmann have created a new subgenre of industrial metal, or so they claim. Licht An is described as ‘Neue Deutsche Härte 2.0’: a revamped version of the heavy sound invented by the likes of Rammstein. In reality, it’s not dissimilar to version 1.0, although frontman Frank Herzig’s latest project – he’s also the guitarist with Rammstein-a-likes Stahlmann – casts shadows of a more gothic nature. Fast-paced, stompy anthems are accentuated by dark pop influences and crunchy guitars. Think Aesthetic Perfection or Dope Stars Inc with elements of In This Moment and Violator-era Depeche Mode. Then there’s AMOK, which is essentially Ministry gone Gangnam Style, and the moody Zahn Der Zeit that opens with (almost) that piano intro from Paradise Lost’s Say Just Words and peaks with a soaring, Slash-like solo. Lich An is dark, catchy and loud; just don’t forget the strobes.

FOR FANS OF: Rammstein, In This Moment, Megaherz NATASHA SCHARF

START A REVOLUTION Survivors

ROCKAINE MUSIC Socially minded post-hardcore that fails to ignite

Five years ago, this German post-hardcore outfit covered Gangnam Style, complete with a tongue-in-cheek, S&Mthemed video, but the sound, style, and message of Survivors is more earnest and reflective of a band who have been encouraging donations to help

refugees on their social pages. First single Hellcome is particularly fierce with angry, empathetic lyrics, the clean singing and choruses – particularly that of Broadcaster – seem strongly inspired by BoySetsFire, and the heavier portions of tracks like Values add some satisfying bite to the mix. Unfortunately, while the album spirit is uplifting and catchy, the songwriting is patchy and tracks like Sit & Wait show that the combined vocal work from Patrick Portnicki, Malik Aziz and Ferdinand Kießling probably needs some finetuning. This is an authentic and engaging release but it still makes you yearn for After The Eulogy instead of filling the void.

FOR FANS OF: Boysetsﬁre, Funeral For A Friend, Atreyu NIK YOUNG

CROSSBONES WWIII NADIR

Albania’s “most recognised metal act” bring their Balkan swagger to bear on this ultra-polished ode to 90s metal. Belters like Gates Of Hell feel like Pantera and Metallica trading punches between swigs of bourbon. Worth a spin. [6] JOE DALY

TEMPLETON PEK

HAR

Watching The World Come Undone

Visitation

DRAKKAR Birmingham’s skate-punk enthusiasts refuse to learn new tricks

Music fans of a certain age will remember when the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games acted as a serious and prolific source of new band discoveries, and Templeton Pek would have been a shoo-in for soundtracking a six-digit-score combo in a pixellated swimming pool. Their melodic skate-punk has always felt somewhat out of time, despite their contemporary and socially conscious lyrics. Watching The World Come Undone displays little in the way of evolution from 2015’s New Horizons, and while that album properly established Templeton Pek’s sound – perhaps making it churlish to criticise them for consistency – this fifth album suffers from an unfortunate case of background syndrome. There’s anger, there’s fire, and on tracks like Axis there’s some bona fide shredding, but as enjoyable as it is for the half hour or so that it’s on, it’s just too instantly forgettable once it’s over.

FOR FANS OF: Great Collapse, Rise Against, Sum 41 ROB BARBOUR

BLOOD HARVEST

Three tracks of stormy, immersive black metal atmospherics via Tel Aviv, Israel. Serving as a precursor to the band’s forthcoming debut, Visitation’s swirling soundscapes and bleak sonic exploration conjure similar cavernous dread as the current Icelandic hordes. [7] LIAM YATES

ZIGGURAT

Ritual Miasma BLOOD HARVEST

This Israeli duo’s black/death concoction is quite impressive, not least when it’s being played at the speed of light, but mostly because this debut EP reeks of the profane atmosphere that’s so essential to this hybrid genre. [7] OLIVIER BADIN

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH.

TURNSTILE

Time And Space ROADRUNNER American punk rockers get a gueststrewn upgrade

This is Turnstile’s first release on Roadrunner and, as demonstrated by the two new singles with their meaty riffs, select 80s and 90s influences, and funky undertones, the slick major label production certainly does them justice. The album picks up from where this DC/Baltimore-based quintet left off with 2015’s Nonstop Feeling but with more alt-rock and melodic layers injected into the oldschool hardcore punk spirit. Sludgy guitar-work and confident grooves are interrupted by trippy sections, Brendan Yates’ vocals slip between Snapcase, Shelter, and Jane’s Addiction depending on the mood, and the penultimate instrumental track is hypnotically futuristic and jazzy. Guests play an interesting part, too. Party rock’n’roll track Moon features Sheer Mag’s Tina Halladay, Tanikka Charraé plays vocal lead on Bomb, and Diplo helps with production on aggressively catchy latecomer Right To Be. It’s a bold and erratic statement probably best served live.

FOR FANS OF: Snapcase, Trapped Under Ice, Agnostic Front NIK YOUNG

VENOM PRISON

Animus (Deluxe Edition) PROSTHETIC Brit death metal prodigies expand their firstborn

The rise of Venom Prison has been one of the more enjoyable metal phenomena of recent years and it’s not hard to see why Prosthetic have deigned to give the Welsh quintet’s breakthrough record an extra push. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, Animus is one of the strongest debuts by a UK death metal band in recent

memory. Both true to the spirit of the genre and infused with enough crusty hardcore and post-90s groove to lure in more mainstream fans, it may not be quite the masterpiece recent hype has suggested, but it will still rip your face off. The best moments – the brooding Corrode The Black Sun and the insanely exciting, 93second Perpetrator Emasculation – will almost certainly cause you to break furniture. Quite how five enjoyable but inessential live tracks amount to a “deluxe” upgrade is open to debate, however.

grinding riffs and ambient melodies, deftly balances beauty and brutality. The next time round we need to see Vexes take that skill and carve up a sound that’s all their own.

FOR FANS OF: Deftones, Filter, The Contortionist DANNII LEIVERS

FOR FANS OF: Cannibal Corpse, Slipknot, Trap Them DOM LAWSON

ANDREW W.K. You’re Not Alone

SONY Hard partying rock icon takes a delirium-inducing detour

VEXES

Ancient Geometry SELF-RELEASED Atmospheric metallers fail to cover their tracks

All bands have their influences, but when they’re too blatant to ignore it can be problematic. Ancient Geometry, the debut from New Jersey/Pennsylvania quartet Vexes, is certainly guilty of cleaving closely to its Deftonian source material. Opener Helion and Terra both erupt in a coruscating blend of heady atmospherics, low-slung nu metal aggression and sensual yet barbed vocals, making simultaneous nods to Gore and Around The Fur, with some Filter thrown in for good measure. That said, there’s promise here, too. The explosive rap metal of No Color, featuring Islander’s Mikey Carvajal, is perfectly enjoyable in its own right and Plasticine, wading kneedeep in a sumptuous soup of

Rolo Tomassi: in a ﬁeld of their own

Coupled with the personality of a pug snorting sugar, Andrew W.K.’s 2001 debut, I Get Wet, cemented its creator in pop culture. Seventeen years later, You’re Not Alone offers further musical proof to that pudding. His classic material’s hallmarks are present – I Don’t Know Anything’s Ramones-clanging-the-keys being a case in point – but the majority of this record is mental. Gang chants and irresistible guitar/piano riffs lead the way, interspersed within party hymns like Give Up On You, spoken-word segments, quasi-power metal galloping and fantastical soundscapes like Break The Curse, which has more in common with Devin Townsend’s Epicloud than punk rock. It’s so OTT it borders on parody but there’s total conviction behind Andrew’s every word, bellowing out his crowning vocal achievement on Total Freedom and non-ironically commanding a song Coldplay would kill for. This is what being alive sounds like.

FOR FANS OF: The Ramones, The Devin Townsend Project, Queen ALEC CHILLINGWORTH

FAVOURITE ALBUM ART TATIANA SHMAILYUK Jinjer

GOJIRA

L’Enfant Sauvage “It’s difﬁcult to pick one among dozens of artists, but this one totally mesmerised me with my two favourite contrasting colours: black and orange! To my mind, the simplicity of the drawing itself reveals the deep idea of wildness and primal human nature.”

ROLO TOMASSI

Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It HOLY ROAR

Shefﬁeld experimentalists start to see the light

THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT you

can give a band is the world’s continuing inability to define and pigeonhole them. Rolo Tomassi have been defying categorisation and expectations for the last 12 years, and Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It doesn’t disappoint in their continuing quest to confuse and amaze. Last time we heard from the Sheffield crew, with 2015’s Grievances, they were delving deep into the darkest recesses of the soul, but this time there is a glimmer of light, the aptly titled instrumental, Towards Dawn, with its sighing melody and twinkling synths straight from the Mogwai school of thought, suggesting a newfound positivity. That’s bolstered by Aftermath, with beautifully sweet vocals from Eva Spence and a spaced-out anthem that builds to a wall of white noise. Don’t panic, though – of course they haven’t gone soft on us, and this shoegazing start is soon usurped by bursts of frantic, disorienting mathrock and Eva’s primal howls that are more animal than human. Alma Mater, meanwhile, is a nosebleed thrasher with cruel intentions, and Whispers Among Us is a vortex of fury sent from the depths of hell, lead-heavy with a devil roar that’s fantastically discomforting to be on the receiving end of. Their greatest trick, though, is in the moments when they bring the light and dark side together, as on A Flood Of Light, setting them against each other to create pure, blinding energy. It’s a kind of witchcraft, a wildly inventive journey into the unknown as one song flows into the next with no warning of what might be ahead. Yet again, Rolo Tomassi have proved themselves to be in a category of one.

FOR FANS OF: At The Drive In, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge EMMA JOHNSTON

METALHAMMER.COM 87

BABY GROOT SPEAKER

YOU METALR HE WI AVY SH LIS T

£39.99

Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 featured one of the best opening sequences in modern cinema, and you can recreate that with your own Guardians-branded bluetooth speaker with an actual dancing baby Groot! And with very little chance of you being eaten by a massive alien. Bonus! http://tinyurl.com/groot-sounds

MASTER & DYNAMIC MW60 HEADPHONES £499

The leather and lambskin cushioning and radial stainless steel finishing ooze quality, but pop these premium, bluetooth-enabled headphones on your head and the 45mm Neodymium drivers open up a warm deep soundscape that will make want to dive into your complete music collection all over again. Available in a range of colours, and less pricey but still eargasmic-sounding versions, this is like having a TARDIS strapped to your head. https://tinyurl.com/mw60phones

SLAYER HOODIE £32.99

If the idea of a world without Slayer is giving you the shivers, at least you can keep yourself warm with this handsome EMP-exclusive hoodie bearing the iconic eagle on both the front and the back, keeping a watchful eye on the devastation left in the thrash legends’ wake. http://tinyurl.com/slayer-hoodie

WATAIN T-SHIRT £15.39

Satan-loving Swedes Watain are back with a vicious new album, Trident Wolf Eclipse, and there can be no better visual representation of that new record than a black t-shirt with an iron fist on it. http://tinyurl.com/watain-ﬁst

TRIBULATION

DOWN BELOW – DELUXE BOX SET

CENTURY MEDIA £49

Tribulation’s music always sounds as though it’s on the verge of some lustrous yet illicit discovery, and it’s no surprise that their box sets offer a similarly enrapturing experience. A more-than-worthy successor to 2015’s Children Of The Night treasure trove, the limited-edition deluxe edition of new album Down Below comes in a typically tactile casing, and within this Pandora’s box, the Swedish masters of the macabre have placed the album in double-vinyl gatefold form complete with full-size booklet, alongside a bonus 12-inch with a screen-printed b-side and a CD version in a slipcase. There are more trinkets to be had, too: a vinyl slipmat, poster, three art prints, signed card and a suitably gothic patch. Here be magick! http://tinyurl.com/downbelow-box

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REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVE. MERCH.

RICK AND MORTY PORTAL GUN

SPACETIME PLACEMAT

£22.30

£17.50

BLACK LIKE MY SOUL MARSHMALLOWS £10.99

Do you wish you were doing something more with your life than watching a cartoon then debating how it’s redefining genres and is ‘way more intelligent than you realise, actually.’ Well now you can travel to a dimension where people don’t think you’re an insufferable arse.

Sunday dinner with the family has become a boring affair – the same conversations about still not being married or employed. Luckily, you can recreate the sensation of being absolutely off your bollocks while eating your mum’s homemade chicken pie.

Everything around you is going to shit, so why shouldn’t your sweets be any different? Throw away those Love Hearts you’re saving for an ill-fated Tinder date and just eat the murky, chewy blackness of reality, you gluttonous oaf.

http://tinyurl.com/spacetime-mat

http://tinyurl.com/black-mmallows

http://tinyurl.com/rm-portalgun

DEATH RE-RIPPED BACKPACK

HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY T-SHIRT

£51.99

£12.99

Wearing this latex beauty suggests either that you’re a creature of refined, gothic sensibilities who cares little for the wailing of small children behind thee, or that the underwear you’re taking to your mum’s to wash has made the receptacle become self-aware.

Simply put, Harakiri For The Sky deserve more recognition because they’re one of the best post-black metal bands around right now. Wearing this shirt won’t just (very slightly) increase their popularity, but your beard will instantly become 73% more stroke-worthy. If you have one.

http://tinyurl.com/deathpack

LEPROUS T-SHIRT £14.99

Last year’s Malina album was one of 2017’s most critically acclaimed releases. If you’ve fallen for Leprous’s charms then you’ll surely desire this t-shirt adorned with the artwork of their masterpiece.

http://tinyurl.com/harakiri-tee

http://tinyurl.com/leprous-tee

BLACK MOTH T-SHIRT £16.99

Black Moth have been one of the UK’s most consistent, but underrated, bands. Hopefully 2018 will be the year their melodic doom gets the recognition it deserves. Give ’em some props by wearing this killer Anatomical Venus t-shirt. http://tinyurl.com/blackmoth-tee

STRAIGHT EDGE: A CLEAR-HEADED HARDCORE PUNK HISTORY SKULL WHISKEY FLASK

£7.44/£25.99

Nothing makes you look more of a badass than swigging from a hip flask, and this 7oz skullembossed, leather and steel receptacle is definitely the epitome of slacker cool.

There’s more to straight edge than not drinking and drawing an X on your hand. Available on Kindle and as a large-format paperback, this oral history follows the rise of Minor Threat to the subculture becoming a way of life across the globe, featuring interviews with a ton of bands who were there at the time.

http://tinyurl.com/skull-ﬂask

http://tinyurl.com/sxe-book

£26

METALHAMMER.COM 89

Sam Carter: hero of the power

ianson n Adam Christ Architects’ d out world dominatio le ru ’t sn ha

ARCHITECTS

WHILE SHE SLEEPS/COUNTERPARTS

e In He av en A M at ch M ad ll fa Do wn Na ys ay er De at hw is h s Br ok en Cr os lk in g De ad M an Ta a Al ph a Om eg Bl ac k Bl oo d Gr av it y ar Ph an to m Fe Ne ar Th e De vi l Is s Do n’ t Ru n Th es e Co lo ur r Gr av ed ig ge Do om sd ay

ENCORE

Ni hi lis t Th e W in d Go ne W it h

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a laser e middle of Playing in th out setting of f the th wi e maz t impressive alarms: mos

Architects’ Al ex Dean soak s up the incredible atmosphere

JAMES SHARROCK

ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH.

Sleeps’ Mat Welsh orchestrates the pit

Brighton’s metal heroes hit an emotional critical mass IT’S 7PM AND a never-ending queue is

snaking around London’s Alexandra Palace – a river of black t-shirts and snapbacks shivering in the bitter British air… or it could be the gallons of adrenaline pumping around everyone’s bodies. This has been a long time coming. For years, tonight’s headliners have been pinpointed as the top dogs in the UK metal scene, and on this brisk Saturday they solidify their stature. Once inside the cavernous venue, the crowd splits to dash in two directions. Half to the front, half to the bar, because what is a celebration without booze? But before the men of the hour take their place in front of a buzzing, overexcited sellout crowd, it’s up to COUNTERPARTS [6] to stir things up a bit. And in fairness, it’s a thankless task. As openminded and eclectic as this audience might be, they didn’t come here for some aggro hardcore. The Canadian bruisers dole out the super-heavyweight chugs and obnoxious breakdowns, as pits slowly, warily start to form, reluctant to expel too much energy before the big guns roll out in an hour or so’s time. As vocalist Brendan Murphy points out, Counterparts are friends of Sam Carter, making it here after a quick phone conversation, but for a band that try to slam through walls, they’re a little wide of the mark tonight. The same cannot be said for WHILE SHE SLEEPS [8]. It’s been something of a rollercoaster for the Sheffield crew over the years, having recently opted to go independent for their third album, which sadly wasn’t toured as heavily around the UK as many may had hoped. But they still know how to bulldoze rooms in a matter of seconds. Opening on a cacophonous You Are We, Sleeps are on a mission to fuck everybody up, ripping and roaring through

Brainwashed, Seven Hills and Hurricane, as bodies are flung over shoulders and into the floor, but it’s the deliriously anthemic Silence Speaks (sans Oli Sykes tonight) that ruptures guts and shreds vocal cords for that chorus. Sadly only afforded a 40-minute set time, WSS leave us gagging for more, but there’s something monstrous and magnificent lurking in the shadows.

heard 10,000 people scream “Bleh!” at once. With screens set up either side of the stage, you can see just how much this means to the guys onstage, with wide-eyed smiles beaming We miss you, Tom out over our heads, as London bellows back every last damn word. Architects are more than just a band – just ask the lad who proposed to his girlfriend during A Match Made In Heaven – and tonight is arguably a moment in time that should have come years ago, but it’s more than deserved. We all remember the UK scene PUT SIMPLY, THIS is one of the best in mid-00s with bands like Midasuno, Send ARCHITECTS [10] shows we’ve ever seen. More Paramedics, Flood Of Red, and countless They’ve been touring Europe for weeks and it others who never got the break and faded into all culminates here, on home turf, in front of obscurity, but Architects kept going, they thousands of fans, friends and family. They’re kept touring, they kept honing their craft and treated like heroes, and justifiably so. Having writing some of the most vital, forward-thinking faced a tragedy that no band ever should, metal to ever come out of these isles. This is they have found the strength to continue, proof that the system works if you’re good for their fallen brother Tom Searle, and for their enough and if people believe in you – and we legion of followers around the planet. This is believe in Architects. more than a gig. This is about community, spirit Before the inevitable encore, the band and love; this a celebration of triumph for a band deliver a blistering and heart-wrenching that spent years toiling in the toilet circuit Doomsday, written by Dan Searle for his brother without anyone giving a crap, and now they’re Tom, filling the air with a deafening chorus. ending a headline tour But the closer of Gone With at the iconic Ally Pally. The Wind is enough to break With seven albums everyone. Full-grown men are in the bank, the set is weeping, arm in arm with their a smorgasbord of best friends, groups of friends savagery and and strangers alike all hugging technicality, and singing along, faces hammering out drenched in a mix of sweat Alpha Omega, and tears, because we know Downfall and a what this means and we know vicious Gravedigger. what Architects have been You haven’t known through. And as the simple true joy until you’ve image of a heart with the initials T and S shines out at the climax, you know that somewhere, somehow, Tom knows just how much arse his band kicked tonight.

ARCHITECTS ARE MORE THAN JUST A BAND

Sleeps’ Lo bulldozing brz Taylor: illiance

LUKE MORTON

METALHAMMER.COM 97

Whoever decided to put Meshuggah on a boat is a sick and evil genius

pher Bowes: Alestorm’s Chr isto g element tin in his drunken, ﬂoa

70,000 TONS OF METAL

Cannibal Corpse’s Co rp releases thsegr inder e Kraken

THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEAS, FLORIDA/THE CARIBBEAN

Alestorm, Meshuggah and Cannibal Corpse wreck senses on the high seas YOU MIGHT CALL it the impossible dream: the weather is glorious,

thunderous metal fills the air, tickets for Snorkelling With Aborted are very much available and free ice cream is available 24/7. Yes, 70,000 Tons Of Metal is still just about the most fun the human metalhead can withstand, albeit only if you’re confident you can afford your exorbitant bar tab after the event. This year’s cruise is the event’s eighth trundle through the Caribbean and boasts 61 bands spanning several generations of metal excellence performing in front of punters from more than 70 different nations. If you need to see the unifying power of heavy music in action, look no further. Although there are no official headliners on this trip, few would complain if ALESTORM [8] cheekily waltzed off with the honours. Bearing in mind that practically all their songs are about getting pissed on a massive boat, the pirate metal pillocks can hardly fail in this context, but it’s always good to be reminded that they have become one of metal’s most loved party bands for a reason: they’re actually really fucking good at this nonsense. Among the legendary names bringing either the house down or the stars out are KREATOR [8] and MESHUGGAH [9]. Every band plays twice on 70,000 Tons, which means that both bands delve into their catalogues, serving up plenty of classics and old-school curveballs. Kreator are on incredible form at this point, and when they conclude their second set with Riot Of Violence, it’s as if the years have been stripped away and Mille

Petrozza is a snotty teenager again. The polyrhythmic Swedes are even more devastating, and the one band on the ship that seem to make time hold its breath as that sonic cyclone spins. At the other end of the atmospheric spectrum, SABATON [7] are a rowdy, preposterous blast, their anthems blending into one rampaging but eminently cheerful Panzer swarm. BATTLE BEAST [9] once again confirm that they are an obscenely entertaining live act and that Noora Louhimo is quite possibly the finest (and most ferocious) vocalist in metal today. Whether playing on the Pool Deck at 5am or in the indoor Alhambra Theatre a mere 12 hours later, they’re a sugary but scorching shot in the arm. You could permanently break yourself trying to catch every great band on this cruise, but it’s certainly worth a try. Thrash fans are well catered for with blistering sets from EXODUS [7], WITCHERY [8], DESTRUCTION [7] and VOIVOD [8], not to mention a bravura display of old-school spite from speed metal gods EXCITER [8]. SEPULTURA [8] are on monstrous form too; Andreas Kisser notes that Derrick Green has now been the band’s frontman for 20 years and a roar of approval erupts. He bursts into a huge grin, his comrades launch into Choke and moshpits break out in the hot tubs. Moments later, Roots Bloody Roots nearly causes the ship to capsize. Or at least it feels like it. It’s not all good times and party vibes on 70,000 Tons, of course. You may have to be of a certain gloomy disposition to want to witness SWALLOW

DEREK BREMNER

MOSHPITS BREAK OUT IN THE HOT TUBS

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You don’t get thi V Festival...we s shit at imagine

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH.

We’re not licking that now, pal

Some people rock the corpsepaint...

you ...some...look mate, nts tried, that’s what cou

Derrick Green has been pulling this face with Sepultura for 20 loud years now

THE SUN [9] playing all three parts of their epic Songs From The North album, but a few tiny sound niggles aside, the Finns’ trio of performances amount to the most deeply affecting show of the lot. Embellished with a string quartet, everything from With You Came The Whole Of The World’s Tears to a final, pitiless The Clouds Prepare For A Battle feels like a merciful knife through the heart. Plainly not everyone is tapping into this rich stream of melancholy. One heroically shitfaced man, brandishing a blow-up doll and wearing only one shoe, staggers past the Pool Deck stage while Swallow The Sun are playing the elegant Autumn Fire and shouts “Yeah, beautiful!” before reeling off into the bins. Bless. Metal’s esoteric shadows are nobly represented here by ENSLAVED [8], who sound more overpowering than ever when playing material from last year’s exceptional E album. Sacred Horse, in particular, is absolutely mesmerising. IN MOURNING [9] are revelatory too, their despairing, slow-mo melodeath filling the indoor theatre with palpable disquiet, their riffs shaking the chandeliers. Elsewhere, EVERGREY [8] once again confirm that they should be vastly more successful than they are by playing two totally different sets, both full of songs that are equal parts brutish heaviness and soul-wrenching beauty. INSOMNIUM [8] go down a storm too, much to their surprise. Their second set is an immaculate rumble through the 40-minute, one-song Winter’s Gate that could hardly be more perfect under the midnight sky.

In contrast, SONATA ARCTICA [5] are a disappointment. They’re neither as

You’re gonna reg ret tha approx. 15 secont in ds

bombastic nor as exciting as they once were, and their new material tends to drag rather than sparkle. DARK TRANQUILLITY [8] have no such problems, shrewdly blending old(ish) and new and sounding as vital and relevant as they ever did. Prog metal icons THRESHOLD [8] make plenty of new fans with two punchy but immersive sets that lean heavily on last year’s stunning Legends Of The Shires, while death metal legends BENEDICTION [7] are England’s only other representatives and are every bit as unstoppable and gnarly as Neptune demands. Meanwhile, ABORTED [8], BELPHEGOR [7] and CANNIBAL CORPSE [8] tear the ship several new portholes each, SEPTICFLESH [7] very nearly make the inside of a cruise liner feel like an ancient temple and INTERNAL BLEEDING [9] deliver the heaviest riffs of the entire festival, serving up brutal slam anthems like Falling Down and Fatal Injustice with levels of venom that point to, at the very least, a nasty shared case of sunburn. After four nights at sea and more refreshing beverages than any bladder should have to negotiate, it all ends with another admirably silly Alestorm set, another bellow through Fucked With An Anchor and an unmistakable sense that everyone on board really, really wants to do this again next year. Did we mention the free ice cream?

you forgot “What do you mean ﬂoppies?!” my ﬂippy-

DOM LAWSON

METALHAMMER.COM 99

Parkway Drive’s Winston McCall goes for a squat party vibe

POLARIS

Be gi n So ng Th e Si re ns ’ Th e Pi gs To Fe ed Th em Ca rr io n s Fi ve M on th Bo ne ya rd s es W ild Ey Vi ce Gr ip ch or s Id ol s An d Anin t Br ea ki ng Po Ch es t De ad M an ’s Fr os tb it e Ho ri zo ns

ENCORE

Cr us he d er Bo tt om Fe ed

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u asked if yo … ys, we only Sheesh, guto put the heating on wanted us

KANE HIBBERD

FORUM THEATRE, MELBOURNE

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH.

The Horizons set is an illuminating show

Jeff Ling kicks out the jams

Metalcore kingpins seek horizons old and new on their 10th anniversary IT’S THE HEIGHT of summer in Australia

right now, which means scorching, 40˚ days and muggy-as-a-rainforest nights. Before POLARIS [7] have even finished their chaotic opening set at this, the final show of Parkway Drive’s fortnight-long tour, people can be seen spilling out of the pit area Forum drenched in sweat, only to be hit by a wall of treacle-thick air. It’s undeniably stifling, but does nothing to dampen the spirits both on-and-off stage this evening. It’ll come as no surprise to anyone that PARKWAY DRIVE [9] mean a lot to Australian metal fans. Almost single-handedly launching an entire scene, these five boys from Byron Bay fused their Cali-punk upbringing with a love of the flamboyance of the Big 4 on their debut album, Killing With A Smile, before touring every inch of the country in a beat-up family van. They’d pull thousands in even the most backwater, outback towns, igniting an Australiawide love of all thing heavy in the process. By the time second album, Horizons – the focus of tonight’s anniversary show – was released in 2007, they were national heroes. Strolling onstage to the strains of Horizons opener Begin, they waste no time in kicking off their 10th birthday party. Segueing straight into the vibrant, jagged intro to The Sirens’ Song, bedlam breaks loose on both sides of the barrier. Be it the venue-wide moshpit that sees stacked surfer dudes clatter into long-haired metalheads with reckless abandon, the frenzied pogoing of bassist Jia O’Connor or the Godzilla-like stomping of guitarists Jeff Ling and Luke Kilpatrick, the temperature is amped up even further with every riff. It’s frontman Winston McCall who oversees this mayhem; a powerhouse of note-perfect screaming and near-constant, wide-eyed calls for more from his melee, he comes off like a rabid dog and a prized matador in equal measure.

Stood in front of a backdrop that could illuminate venues 10 times this size, there’s an exciting edge to tonight’s show – one that both celebrates former glories and points to a future few could have dreamed of just a few years back. “Honestly, we never expected this band to last five years,” Winston admits early on, “Let alone be doing a 10-year tour for a whole record.” It’s a brief speech that inspires both cheers and one erstwhile crowdsurfer, before things explode for Carrion. The deafening screams that greet that titular ‘Carrion!’ hook prompt the first of a thousand model-white smiles from Winston this evening – “loudest crowd in 10 years,” he laughs afterwards, “fucking hell!” The Horizons-fest continues with selfconfessed “curveball” deep cut Five Months, its anthemic riffing inspiring a swell of crowdsurfers, before Winston addresses his throng once more. “If you’ve been around a while, there’s a good chance you’ve heard this one,” he admits, such is the lasting impact of Horizons on Parkway’s setlists over the last 10 years, before he gestures to the back reaches of the room: “If you’ve been around a long while, there’s a good chance you should be in the pit for this one.” As Boneyards then flip-flops between the frantic blastbeats of drummer Ben Gordon – these days sporting an impressive 80s hair-metal perm – and yet more colossal breakdowns, Winston’s calls are answered, the ever-larger pit now resembling a pack of wolves out for the kill.

“IT’S BEDLAM ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BARRIER”

This is not just some fan-service trip down memory lane, though. Taking a detour from the Horizons tracklist, the singalongs that greet Wild Eyes from 2012’s Atlas threaten to drown out every amp in the room, while the reaction the stadium-rock, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’ chorus of Vice Grip garners is as fevered as any classic Parkway track: proof that their anthemic evolution should cement another decade at the top. “This is Jeff’s moment,” Winston then sniggers after a riotous Idols & Anchors. “When he was born, he was given the chance to grow taller, or to riff like a motherfucker. And he chose to RIFF!” As a note-perfect Breaking Point surges forward, it’s proof that what Mr Ling may lack in lankiness, he more than makes up for in sheer mind-melting musicality. A quickfire thrash through Dead Man’s Chest, Frostbite and Horizons’ title track then closes out Parkway Drive and their second album’s tin anniversary, before they take a brief breather. Their encore is awe-inspiring. There’s a swagger to Winston McCall’s stage presence that he previously kept hidden, as he saunters about the stage, harnessing Crushed’s nu metal-esque attitude. “Whatever energy you’ve got left – the energy you were gonna use to get home, or to the bar – you use that now,” he demands, flashing his final grin of the evening: “I’m cashing it in!” Bottom Feeder is a fitting end: ‘You’ve had your time in the sun / Keep your head down kid, your 15 seconds are done,’ Winston bellows, a call-out to the chug-happy, innovation-lacking pretenders of the metalcore scene that Parkway are a welcome antidote to. As they look ahead to album six, the scene’s never been in safer hands – Parkway Drive are surely only months away from becoming muchdeserving arena-fillers.

Ben Gordon is havin a smashing tim g e

TOM CONNICK

METALHAMMER.COM 101

Andy Biersack: misunderstood outcast

in snop: back Danny Wort still isolated bu , ng ki As

BLACK VEIL BRIDES

ASKING ALEXANDRIA/ TO THE RATS AND WOLVES BRIXTON ACADEMY, LONDON

Melodic rock’s dynamic duo form a bombastic tag team KICKING OFF PROCEEDINGS only five minutes

Fa it hl es s Co ff in Wak e Up ro of I Am Bu lle tp ng So Re be l Lo ve ll M y Na m e Ca W he n Th ey e Sh ad ow s Di Lo st It Al l Th e Le ga cy d Di vi ne Wre tc he d An ns Pe Kn iv es An d

E N C O R Eea po n Pe rf ec t W ls Fa lle n An ge In Th e En d

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after doors open, German young bucks TO THE RATS AND WOLVES [7] are given the unenviable task of not only firing up tonight’s cavalcade of pop metal, but doing so to a far-from-full Brixton Academy. Frontmen Dixi Wu and Nico Sallach trade fiery roars and anthemic cleans back and forth, captivating an ever-expanding audience with cries for jumps and mass chants that are enthusiastically met. At his band’s first ever London gig, Nico is especially grateful as he takes to the mic between songs, happily thanking his onlookers. The up-and-comers deliver a display of youthful passion and hunger that almost outdoes the first co-headliner. Armed with an array of pyro and fanciful LED visuals, ASKING ALEXANDRIA [7] have the pomp that their support lacked, as well as a truly ecstatic crowd as opener Into The Fire invokes manic wails of delight. What they don’t have, however, is the same drive and synchronicity. While guitarists Ben Bruce and Cameron Liddell are clearly in high spirits, newly returned frontman Danny Worsnop feels mostly isolated from his hard-rocking cohorts. Prospects improve towards the tail-end of the set, though, when the quintet bust out a trio of cuts from their latest, self-titled

album: Eve, Where Did It Go? and Alone In A Room. Clearly invigorated by their new material, the group click, rediscovering their mojo in time for a satisfying and enrapturing conclusion. Love them or loathe them, BLACK VEIL BRIDES [8] always evoke a powerful response, and tonight is no exception. Despite touring to promote their new record, Vale, the Californian glam stalwarts’ performance mainly constitutes older material, infectious single Wake Up being one of only two new tracks played. The vocal reception it enjoys cements its status as a future setlist regular before Rebel Love Song continues Andy Biersack and co’s appeal as misunderstood outcasts. It’s an image that Brixton laps up. When They Call My Name and Lost It All show a more tender side to Black Veil Brides’ arena rock stylings, while still eliciting titanic, word-for-word singalongs, setting up the climactic catharsis of The Legacy and Knives And Pens. The encore is the usual trilogy of Perfect Weapon, Fallen Angels and In The End, each of which achieves more adulation than the last, ending this harmonic extravaganza with exactly the kind of visceral rock that fans paid to experience. MATT MILLS

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH. EXIST IMMORTAL

Chris Motionless has festival headline slots in his maniacal sights

VALIS ABLAZE/ TEMPLES ON MARS

THE BLACK HEART, LONDON

Although sound gremlins are determined to reduce TEMPLES ON MARS’s [7] muscular, eclectic rock to fuzz, the power of the riff wins out. Tonight is their debut show and, with a pummelling sound that falls somewhere between myriad bands including Thrice, Leprous and Mastodon, there’s much to be excited about. Serving up Tesseract-esque tech that merges expansive melodies and ephemeral rhythms drenched in prismatic textures, VALIS ABLAZE [7] are a captivating prospect. This is a show on home turf for EXIST IMMORTAL [8] and frontman Meyrick de la Fuente looks overjoyed as he surveys the packed room. Annoyingly, the sound gremlins have returned and there are moments when his clean tones are lost in the otherworldly mix of astral atmospherics, juddering guitars and bloopy solos. It’s a bummer on the likes of Follow Alone and Erode, where killer hooks are a crucial aspect of their brocaded melo-tech. What we can hear sounds glorious, though; the futuristic sonic tapestry transcends the technical issues, an ethereal delight that transports us to a higher plane.

Andrea Ferro welcomes us to their gothic circus

Cane Hill’s Elijah Witt: up for a ruck

Cristina is on (Big) Top form

DANNII LEIVERS

MISS MAY I

FIT FOR A KING/ VOID OF VISION/CURRENTS

BVB & MOTIONLESS IN WHITE: JAKE OWENS/LACUNA COIL: MARIE KORNER

EXCHANGE, BRISTOL

It may be cold and wet outside the Exchange but it’s hotter than hell inside as CURRENTS [6] and VOID OF VISION [6] churn out their metalcore that sounds far too similar to have an identity of its own. FIT FOR A KING [7] up the ante with soaring melodies , rumbling beatdowns, crushing grooves and up-for-it attitude. Ohio’s MISS MAY I [8] are on fine form on the Exchange’s compact stage tonight, with lead singer Levi Benton a swirl of hair and righteous fury, commanding the band and keeping the crowd in the palm of his outstretched hand. Their latest album, Shadows Inside, has been out for six months now and the set hangs heavily on the newer material. Its melody is front and centre with the triumvirate of Crawl, a venomous crowd-sung Under Fire and the title track, showing how far the band have developed their sound from their earlier days. CRAIG HUNTLEY

LACUNA COIL

MOTIONLESS IN WHITE CANE HILL/ICE NINE KILLS

O2 FORUM KENTISH TOWN, LONDON

Milanese metallers celebrate two decades in style

KOKO, LONDON

IT MIGHT BE bordering on Baltic outside, but the

Industrial metalcore mavens move up a league

combination of fizzing bonhomie and palpable anticipation inside practically ignites the packed-out Forum. Resembling a musical United Nations, the balcony is adorned with flags with fans from Italy to Australia in attendance. The reason behind it is simple – tonight marks Lacuna Coil’s 20th anniversary – and London has been cordially invited to witness The Greatest Show On Earth. The Milanese metallers consistently deliver live, but what follows over the next twoplus hours is a jaw-dropping, retina-popping extravaganza of career-defining proportions. Flowing curtains drop to reveal not only the band, but myriad stilt-walkers, macabre mimes and face-melting pyrotechnics transfixing the revellers and transforming the stage into a twisted circus fantasy. Plunging headfirst into a beguiling salvo of A Current Obsession and 1.19, Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro are on resplendent form visually and vocally; the juxtaposition of resounding grace and gravel-laced rasps complement each other, reaching the type of symbiosis only achieved after two decades together. The biggest singalongs remain reserved for eternal classics My Wings, Swamped and Heaven’s A Lie – all of which render the band speechless in humble bewilderment – but it’s the raw intimacy of stripped-down, piano-led ballads Falling and Wide Awake (complete with Cristina suspended from the heavens like an anguished angel) that engross. Tonight isn’t just a celebration of the past 20 years, but proof that Lacuna Coil truly fear nothing.

BY THE LOOKS of the mahooosive queue trailing halfway across Camden, every member of London’s black-clad contingent has descended on Koko tonight. Up first, ICE NINE KILLS [6] aren’t reinventing any wheels with their bouncy, anthemic metalcore, but that doesn’t seem important while the room is bellowing the chorus of Communion Of The Cursed with resounding vigour. CANE HILL [7] are confrontational and tightly wound, and emanate a combative energy as they hit the stage, yet their Korn and Mudvayne-aping nu metal is met with a strangely subdued reception. Frontman Elijah Witt’s frustration is palpable but it doesn’t stop him delivering Time Bomb, Lord Of The Flies and It Follows like a rabid dog foaming at the mouth. Less than two years ago, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE [8] were up the road headlining the 500-capacity Underworld. In the short time since then they’ve grown exponentially into a fully blown, main stage-bothering, arena-eyeballing proposition. Their confidence has kept pace and, as the band gaze out on a sold-out Koko that’s going completely batty, they couldn’t look more at home. The industrialtinged riffs of Reincarnate and Necessary Evil are meatier than a T-bone buffet and Soft’s ‘You’re mine, motherfucker!’ roar shakes the room as a PVC-sheathed Chris Motionless swaggers and stomps between blazing lights and writhing dancers. Last year he set out the band’s ambition to one day headline Download Festival. Based on tonight’s performance, only a fool would bet against them.

SOPHIE MAUGHAN

DANNII LEIVERS

METALHAMMER.COM 103

Jamey Jasta leads Hatebreed’s aural battery

Power Tr ip’s Ri perfecting ley Gale: not quite the metal cl aw yet

PERSISTENCE TOUR

FORUM, LONDON

Hatebreed, Madball and Power Trip rule a riotous hardcore roost WITH A SUPER-EARLY stage time INSANITY ALERT [7] have to do something to grab attention, and seed

H AT E B R E E

Pr ov en is es Em pt y Pr om or on Be fo re Di sh La st Br ea th ce Pe rs ev er an En em ie s Sm as h Yo ur Al on e r el Yo u’re Ne ve wn Th e Ba rr Lo ok in g Do Of To da y is Li ve Fo r Th oo d A Ca ll Fo r Bl t Wor ld s Ap ar ol d sh To Th e Th re ff er in g Dr iv en By SuWar r Pr ep ar e Fo nd Ho llo w Gr ou w Th is Is No yt hi ng De st ro y Ev er h No t On e Tr ut Di es r Ho no r Ne ve Th ey Co m e As As Di eh ar d es Li e Bu rn Th ar d I W ill Be He

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their hi-speed thrash with party poppers, wacky signs and a mosh-friendly take on Run To The Hills called Run To The Pit. BROKEN TEETH [7] are just as exciting, but a far more serious affair, and their neck-snapping hardcore keeps improving on each viewing. BORN FROM PAIN [5] represent the old school, and, although they are stalwarts of the scene, the pace lags massively after such an intense beginning to the night. Clearly, that’s not a fate that’s ever likely to befall POWER TRIP [9]. The Texans rightly took their place at the business end of any end-of-year list worth caring about after Nightmare Logic tore everyone’s faces off. But live it’s another level of intensity; it’s the first time tonight that we see the entire floor circlepit, while the sound of songs like The Executioners Tax and Firing Squad are twice as fast and twice as nasty. Make sure you see this band on the Hammer tour in April. TERROR [7] have almost the entire tour watching them from the side of the stage. They also get one of the best responses of the night. Their unshakable belief in hardcore can’t be questioned, but for all

their fiery qualities they sound slightly one-dimensional in the wake of Power Trip. The classic hardcore vibe continues with MADBALL [8]. After years of playing tiny club shows in London, they’ve now played Wembley Arena and the Forum in the space of just over a year. It’s great to see that this band, and this music, translate so well to a larger crowd. Freddy Cricien defies his age, charging around the stage, drenched in sweat and barking in the faces of everyone in attendance, and their resolutely traditional, beatdown-heavy music still sounds as fresh today as it did back in the early 90s, culminating in a blinding closing Pride (Times Are Changing). In terms of suitability for a headliner on this tour, HATEBREED [8] are pretty much the gold standard, sounding, as they do, like the world’s most stacked hardcore jukebox. Tonight, their set leans heavily on debut album Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire and its legendary follow-up, Perseverance, meaning we get deep cuts like Smash Your Enemies. Jamey Jasta is still the scene’s most positive Duracell bunny, pumping his fist and urging everyone on ’til the bitter end of what has been yet another excellent Persistence Tour. STEPHEN HILL

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH. THERION ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL, LONDON

Therion have often been accused of peddling overblown nonsense. Fair, perhaps, but when it is as much fun as this, who cares? This is power metal with operatic overtones. The three vocalists – Thomas Vikström, Lori Lewis and Chiara Malvestiti – complement one another with astonishing clarity, while mainman Christofer Johnsson leads the musicians with masterful majesty. There’s a smattering of songs from new album Beloved Antichrist, and it’s clear from the reaction My Voyage Carries On and Temple Of New Jerusalem get that this is what the fans crave. Sadly, due to financial limitations, the band can’t put on the sort of lavish production their music should command. There’s considerable use of pre-recorded choral and orchestral parts to enhance those onstage, but they have no choice; laudable ambition currently outstrips budget. Yes, it is ludicrous and borders on camp, but everyone is enthralled by a band who are prepared to risk being a laughing stock, because their audience is as devoted and committed as they are. MALCOLM DOME

Steve Holt: wristband theory

We don’t want to think about what else Satchel pulls this face for, really

HATEBREED: DEREK BREMNER/36 CRAZYFISTS: TINA KORHONEN/STEEL PANTHER: GRACE CHAPMAN-DUKE

ST JOHN ON BETHNAL GREEN, LONDON

After Wardruna’s two-night stint at the Union Chapel in 2016, it’s Amalie Bruun’s turn to terraform sacred space and tune it to an earlier, still-enduring frequency. The vaulted ceilings and stark beauty of this 19th-century place of worship cast a natural stillness on the atmosphere that only amplifies the expectancy of the crowd. Like her set in Oslo’s Vigeland Mausoleum, tonight is an exploration of the folk roots of Myrkur’s music, replacing the tension with a meditative sense of timelessness. Accompanied by two choirgirls, plus Heilung’s Christopher Juul on mandola and cellist Jo Quail, her crystal-clear, solemnly evocative vocals resonate on the most transporting of frequencies. It’s a paradox that the deeper you go into your own culture, the more universal the experience, but playing her own songs alongside ancient folk songs and ballads, there’s a weightless, chaste quality that’s particularly suited to this venue. Tonight it’s a mesmerising act of communion. JONATHAN SELZER

Lexxi, Stix, Michael and Satchel still know how to bring the party

Brock Lindow: chaos is his business, and business is good

MYRKUR

36 CRAZYFISTS

STEEL PANTHER

A metalcore masterclass from The Last Frontier

LA glambusters stand firm in a post-Weinstein world

ALASKAN METALCORE VETERANS 36 Crazyfists have done their time as the underdogs, but tonight at Islington Academy they’re greeted like kings. And deservedly so, having proven on their latest album, Lanterns, that after 20-odd years they’re still able to rise to the challenge of constantly updating their sound while still bearing the hallmarks of what makes them so fiercely loved by their fans. Plus, they can still pack out a venue, selling out the Academy just moments before they hit the stage, and for good reason; with the fervent energy of a band still just starting out, they put everything into their show. Brock Lindow is a charming instigator of chaos on whose instruction approximately half the audience seems to go sailing over the barriers, while a constantly swirling circlepit opens up like a vortex in the middle of the Academy floor. They hold everyone’s attention from the outset by juxtaposing old and new songs; kicking straight off with Lanterns opener Death Eater before going into the classic At The End Of August, they know when to reel in the crowd’s aggressive delight and when to feed it. From the huge singalong melodies of Wars To Walk Away From, they dip back into their Roadrunner-era tunes such as Bloodwork, which hasn’t dated at all, before bringing us back to the electric Better To Burn. It’s one of their best choruses on Lanterns, and in Slit Wrist Theory 36 Crazyfists close the night by hitting a timeless nerve.

AS A BUNCH of young men slug booze from a cowboy

CATHERINE MORRIS

HANNAH MAY KILROY

ISLINGTON ACADEMY, LONDON

SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE, LONDON

boot, you’d never guess it was a chilly Monday night, but that’s the Steel Panther effect. Nine years on from their debut and Steel Panther’s gag – parodying 80s glam metal at its most excessive – hasn’t changed. While their jokes about “titties” are arguably wearing thin, it’s the execution that has kept them going. The songs are the backbone – the punchy Party All Day and power ballad Community Property could come from any of the mega bands they caricature – but they’re also charismatic and their comic timing is on point. They all play their parts, from Lexxi Foxx’s vain, pouting bassist to Satchel’s crude quips. If you’re wondering, in a post-Weinstein world, whether they’d scale back their schtick, the answer is no. Steel Panther shakily straddle the balance between all-out offence – “Shut up bitch, I’ll Chris Brown your ass!” quips Satchel. “Just kidding: I would never hit a woman… in front of other people” – and perceptive satire. As anyone familiar with the world they parody will know, calling it satire could even be considered a stretch. But while it’s all silly fun if you feel in on that joke (and you really, really hope that everyone here is) some moments feel unnecessary – particularly when young female fans in their bras are encouraged onstage to gyrate and take selfies. But whether you love or loathe their loutishness, it looks like Steel Panther are set to continue riding this routine for quite some time.

METALHAMMER.COM 105

LIVE EVIL GIGS. TOURS.FESTIVALS.

MARCH 1 •˙ 2018 • 2018

ANDREW W.K. APR 14 LONDON O2 FORUM APR 15 BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY 2

DEC 11 GLASGOW SSE HYDRO ARENA

APR 18 NORWICH WATERFRONT

DEC 12 MANCHESTER ARENA

APR 19 SOUTHSEA WEDGEWOOD ROOMS

DEC 14 SHEFFIELD FLYDSA ARENA

APR 21 GLASGOW GARAGE

DEC 15 LIVERPOOL ECHO ARENA

BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL

KEVIN ESTRADA

JUDAS PRIEST, NIGHTWISH, GOJIRA, EMPEROR, DORO, AT THE GATES, WATAIN, ORPHANED LAND, DEVILDRIVER, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, COMBICHRIST, SEPTICFLESH, BLOODBATH, FOZZY, WEDNESDAY 13 + MORE

POWER TRIP

AUG 9-12 DERBYSHIRE CATTON HALL

Texas ragers bring the thrash to our massive April tour HOW’S YOUR 2018 SHAPING UP SO FAR, RILEY?

Riley Gale (vocals): “It looks busier than last year, which hurts my brain. We’ve got a long string of touring in the autumn – the seven weeks on the Trivium tour will have the largest crowds we’ve ever played to besides festivals; 5,000 people at the London show will be our biggest show ever. We’re on a six-week US tour afterwards, so it’s going to be our longest stretch of touring ever, but we’re looking forward to it.”

WHAT’S THIS WE HEAR ABOUT PRINCE HARRY BEING A POWER TRIP FAN? “Crazy, right? I’d love to know how he came across us; perhaps it was on a Spotify playlist. I should get an invite to the Royal Wedding – I deserve a seat at the royal table and to be knighted with an axe!”

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE MEMORY OF TOURING?

“When we were on tour with Obituary and Exodus last October, we had a day off in Kansas City and there was an American football game in town against Washington so we all went together. Eventually

people scattered and it was just me and our drummer Chris [Ulsh] hanging out at the game. John and Donald Tardy from Obituary came back before the game started and brought two cases of beer and two huge bags of KFC, then invited us back on the bus. It was so American – it was just the four of us getting drunk, watching football and eating chicken. John and Donald are massive influences on us so 20-year-old me would flip shit if he knew 10 years later I’d be hanging out on a bus with them.”

WHAT KIND OF WEIRD SHIT GOES ON AT YOUR SHOWS?

“One of the times we’ve played [Texas Festival] SXSW, this guy brought some fake money and threw it into the crowd. Our set had just started and everyone was getting crazy, but one of my friends thought it was real money so he took out a wad of loose notes and threw his real money into the air, too. A bunch of kids were fighting over this money while they were moshing. Then we saw this one guy standing side stage headbanging, wearing a black ski mask and orange Speedos with a bunch of $1 notes tucked into it.”

DEC 8 NOTTINGHAM MOTORPOINT ARENA DEC 9 NEWCASTLE METRO RADIO ARENA

BUTCHER BABIES MAR 1 SOUTHAMPTON JOINERS

DEC 17 BIRMINGHAM ARENA

HAMMER PRESENTS

EPICA

MYRKUR, OCEANS OF SLUMBER APR 6 NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY APR 7 GLASGOW O2 ABC APR 8 BRISTOL O2 ACADEMY APR 10 DUBLIN TIVOLI APR 12 MANCHESTER O2 RITZ APR 13 LONDON O2 FORUM

EVANESCENCE

MAR 2 SHEFFIELD CORPORATION

MAR 30 LONDON ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

MAR 3 MANCHESTER REBELLION

MAR 31 LONDON ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

MAR 4 LONDON THE DOME

APR 2 MANCHESTER O2 APOLLO

CANCER BATS APR 26 LONDON UNDERWORLD

CONVERGE

CROWBAR, GRAVE PLEASURES APR 25 MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2 APR 26 LONDON ELECTRIC BALLROOM

DARKEST HOUR HAVOK

APR 3 NOTTINGHAM MOTORPOINT ARENA APR 5 GLASGOW SEC AMARILLO APR 6 SHEFFIELD CITY HALL

GLASSJAW AUG 18 O2 BRIXTON ACADEMY

IRON MAIDEN

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE JUL 31 NEWCASTLE METRO RADIO ARENA AUG 2 BELFAST SSE ARENA

APR 23 LONDON UNDERWORLD

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DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL

AVENGED SEVENFOLD, OZZY, GUNS N’ ROSES, MARILYN MANSON, PARKWAY DRIVE, BABYMETAL, BFMV, TESSERACT, THY ART IS MURDER, ASKING ALEXANDRIA, MESHUGGAH, ZEAL & ARDOR, BARONESS, RISE AGAINST + MORE JUNE 8-10 DERBYSHIRE DONINGTON PARK

DEF LEPPARD CHEAP TRICK

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METALHAMMER.COM 107

MYLES KENNEDY

APR 27 LONDON KOKO

MAR 10 DUBLIN THE TIVOLI, IRELAND

MAR 17 BIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE2

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MAR 11 BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY 2, UK

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MAR 20 GLASGOW THE GARAGE MAR 21 MANCHESTER GORILLA MAR 24 BRISTOL THEKLA MAR 26 LONDON ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL

OF MICE & MEN

WAGE WAR, SYLAR

SEPULTURA

OBSCURA, GOATWHORE

SKINDRED

CKY DANKO JONES

MAR 13 BRISTOL SWX

APR 19 NORWICH THE NICK RAYNS LCR

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MAR 17 SHEFFIELD FOUNDRY

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SATYRICON MAR 09: GLASGOW CLASSIC GRAND, UK

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TECHFEST

THE ACACIA STRAIN, THE CONTORTIONIST, CYCLAMEN, VOLA, AMOGH SYMPHONY, DVSR, JINJER, VOYAGER, TIDES FROM NEBULA, CRYSTAL LAKE, RISHABH SEEN + MORE JULY 5-9 NEWARK SHOWGROUND

HAMMER PRESENTS

TRIVIUM

CODE ORANGE, POWER TRIP, VENOM PRISON APR 16 BRISTOL O2 ACADEMY

THY ART IS MURDER

The Aussie antagonists are destined for Donington HOW’S 2018 LOOKING FOR THY ART IS MURDER?

Andy Marsh (lead guitar): “We’re playing Download again after four years and headlining the fourth stage, which is insane; thank you to whoever allowed this but you’re also a lunatic. It’s a huge honour and a lot of pressure to deliver the best show we’ve ever done. One of the craziest sets I’ve ever seen was Behemoth headlining a tent so we need to bring that intensity. It’s still funny that we get these great opportunities; we’re not worthy.”

WHAT’S THE BEST TOUR YOU’VE EVER BEEN ON?

“Our first American tour because we’d toured Europe before and it was so organised, everyone works together and bands share buses. We thought touring everywhere else would be like that, but we had to tour for seven weeks with no money, getting paid $100 a show, so we’d have to play 1,500 shows to break even. It was just us and our photographer with no cell phones or GPS. It was hell, but looking back, it was total freedom. We tried to shoot fireworks out of our van on the highway but one didn’t go out of the window, it

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bounced off the ceiling straight into my face while I was driving…”

WHAT KEEPS YOU SANE ON LONG TOURS?

“CJ [McMahon, vocals] buys a football because he loves kicking around to de-stress and Kevin [Butler, bass] brings a foam roller which we use to stretch and incense to burn onstage if we’re allowed. I bring a sous vide water circulator, which is an odd item but it cooks your food safely for eight hours without you watching it.”

HOW MUCH CRAZY SHIT GOES ON AT YOUR SHOWS?

“Someone died in a pit in Australia but the paramedics revived them. We’ve had dudes in wheelchairs crowdsurfing, which is insane! They overcome adversity to get in the pit, crowdsurf and stagedive in their chair! Also, our friends in Parkway Drive had confetti cannons at a show with us and we loaded one with a burrito and shot it out over the crowd. This job has its drawbacks but you can do all the stuff you wanted to do as a kid. I got paid to shoot a beef and cheese burrito at people today – what did you do?”

APR 17 BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY APR 19 GLASGOW O2 ACADEMY APR 20 MANCHESTER ACADEMY APR 21 LONDON O2 BRIXTON ACADEMY

TURBONEGRO MAR 2 LONDON KOKO

WE CAME AS ROMANS MAY 2 NOTTINGHAM RESCUE ROOMS MAY 3 BRISTOL FLEECE MAY 4 GLASGOW CATHOUSE MAY 5 MANCHESTER NIGHT PEOPLE MAY 6 LEEDS KEY CLUB MAY 8 LONDON UNDERWORLD

ARKHON INFAUSTUS

DEMONOMANCY, THE INFERNAL SEA, VACIVUS MAR 24 LONDON BOSTON MUSIC ROOM

AURA NOIR

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EARTHLESS

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BELL WITCH, A FOREST OF STARS, MONARCH!, OLD CORPSE ROAD APR 6 LONDON BOSTON MUSIC ROOM

IMMOLATION FULL OF HELL

APR 6 LONDON THE DOME

INCINERATION FESTIVAL

ABBATH, MASTER’S HAMMER, TAAKE, ROTTING CHRIST, SAOR, HYPOTHERMIA + MORE MAY 12 LONDON THE DOME

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WITHIN TEMPTATION NOV 9 BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY

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DIMMU BORGIR, WATAIN, ENSIFERUM, ROTTING CHRIST, HAMFERÐ, MORK, ÅRABROT, DARKHER + MORE AUG 16-18 BORRE MIDGARD HISTORISK SENTER

OBITUARY MAR 6 NOTTINGHAM RESCUE ROOMS MAR 7 GLASGOW THE CLASSIC GRAND MAR 8 MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY MAR 9 BIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE MAR 10 LONDON ULU

PRIMORDIAL

MOONSORROW DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT APR 16 LONDON ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL

SA LE NO W!

DEMONOMANCY AN OCCULT UPRISING!

DARK BUDDHA RISING SHAMANIC PANIC!

DRUDKH A BALTIC BLAZE!

ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF A VOICE FROM BEYOND KAOTEON

BEIRUT-BRED METALLERS ESCAPE THE WAR ZONE

BATUSHKA

BLACK METAL FOR THE MASSES

PLUS!

ALL THE MOST WS IN-DEPTH REVIE S AND INTERVIEW FROM THE OUTER LIMITS!

“WE ASK PEOPLE TO BE COMMITTED”

PRIMORDIAL IRELAND’S INCENDIARY RABBLE-ROUSERS SEEK ENLIGHTENMENT

PRIMORDIAL

One of the most impassioned and erudite ﬁgures in the extreme metal scene, Primordial frontman Alan Averill is now aiming his ﬁre at the narcissistic nature of our modern age WORDS: DOM LAWSON

“I end up thinking, ‘Is that really the world majesty of opener Nail Their Tongues to the f you’re spending a lot of time you want, where everybody who has a different austere restraint of Stolen Years, it’s still firmly online, many of the negativities viewpoint from you is stifled?’” he shrugs. rooted in the band’s unmistakable musical of modern society are completely “Because what you’re doing is feeding that same world, but previously rigid boundaries are amplified. You have to put it into algorithm, the one designed to keep everybody clearly being gently but purposefully warped. perspective to turn the volume at each other’s throats. Why not just spread your Meanwhile, Alan’s lyrical preoccupations have down sometimes, and that can be energy towards something more positive? You very difficult for people, because they’re victims seldom been more acutely focused. really think the next Reich is coming from a “For me, this album is partly about the values of the algorithms that perpetuate the whole bunch of heavy metal musicians? Ha ha! Again, of the Enlightenment,” he notes. “It’s about thing. So I do feel like a man out of time, but it’s part of this wave of anti-intellectualism and those fundamental ideas of rational debate, of if I look through the window now, the world the disappearance of rational debate.” empiricism, the separation of church and state, outside is still turning, you know?” A unique and complex band that, you might mathematical analysis. I think we’re leaving There was a time when most of what came argue, belong to another, simpler time, behind our scientific principles for this kind out of Alan Averill’s mouth could broadly be Primordial have much more to commend them of anti-intellectualism, along with a new described as dogmatic. One of the principal than their frontman’s keen intellect, but it’s theocratic edge inspired by the narcissism of reasons that Primordial struck such a hard to deny that Alan Averill is one of the social networking and so on. I realise people resounding chord with underground metal great heavy metal paradoxes of our time. Exile will see me say this stuff on their social media fans back in the mid-90s was the Irishman’s Amongst The Ruins is a deeply progressive piece timeline one day and be like, ‘Oh Jesus, Alan, self-evident disdain for compromise. More than of work, both musically and in terms of the lighten the fuck up!’ Ha ha! But unfortunately two decades on, a conversation with the band’s enlightened values and principles that idiosyncratic frontman is still like being are being so bombastically defended, caught in a whirlwind of sharp ideas and and yet Alan is also notorious for his strange detours, but these days Alan unerring devotion to the values and cuts a noticeably more measured and principles of black metal and all things reflective figure. You can hear it in his old-school. In this realm, at least, he voice on Primordial’s remarkable new ALAN AVERILL FINDS HIMSELF A STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND has no interest in debate of any kind. album, Exile Amongst The Ruins, wherein “I’m very proud that my ideology about black we live in an era of low culture and everyone is the singer’s trademark fire and fury is metal hasn’t moved an inch since 1992. It’s defined in opposition and by outrage.” underscored by a palpable world-weariness, exactly the same,” he insists. “I tell people that as he mourns modern life’s rapacious erfectly aware that anything he says could I admire orthodoxy. I don’t want to be openabandonment of edified thought in favour of be swiftly and unthinkingly misconstrued, minded when it comes to black metal. It’s instant gratification and relentless selfies. a precious thing. In a world where you’re told Alan picks his words carefully these days. “I think that we’ve done a good job recently and taught that nothing has any meaning, Having frequently ruffled feathers in the past of throwing out all of the good values that, having this commitment to some kind of with his political views, he admits to being for instance, my grandparents had,” he states. abstract idea, I admire that. I admire the doubly frustrated by the way people are bullied “A sense of community and all of those things, orthodoxy of traditional metal and black metal. into picking one of two sides in any supposed they’ve been replaced with absolute ego-driven Sorry, but I just don’t want hip hop beats in it.” debate. This even extends to the metal scene narcissism on social networks, this sort of itself, where the slenderest of rumours that identitarian authoritarianism, this victimhood s much as the pejorative ‘elitist’ is a band might harbour racist views invariably mentality and so on. The album speaks about bandied around far too frequently and leads to a apoplectic knee-jerk reaction and that suicidal malady, but also that there are lazily in the metal world, the debate a total lack of rational discussion, particularly a lot of positive things to state about our past.” about what is or isn’t real metal seems likely online. For Alan, a self-confessed “free speech On a musical level, Exile Amongst The Ruins to go on forever. Having nailed his own absolutist”, such hysteria represents the thin is arguably Primordial’s most adventurous and colours firmly to the mast, most notably with end of a brutally censorious wedge. bold to date. From the slow-burning, venomous

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PRIMORDIAL

Alan believes everything should be open to debateâ&#x20AC;¦ except black metal

METALHAMMER.COM 113

PRIMORDIAL

Primordial (left to right): Micheál O’Floinn, Ciáran MacUiliam, Alan Averill, Simon O’Laoghaire, Pól MacAmlaigh

ALAN AVERILL BELIEVES ALL EDIFICES NEED THEIR FOUNDATIONS

Bathory-inspired epic metal crew Twilight Of The Gods, Alan could easily get drawn into the online melee on a daily basis, but once again he seems to have mellowed a little. “In every scene, aren’t there always active and passive people? There are always the committed and the passengers. It’s probably the same in jazz, folk, blues or electronic music. One of my cousins is a DJ and I went to see him play a couple of years ago. He said to me, ‘Look at all the fucking high heels!’ I didn’t understand what he meant. He said ‘People used to come here to dance, but now it’s full of middle-class girls in high heels…’ Ah fuck, OK, now I get it. He said, ‘Now watch…’ When he did his DJ set, there was a succession of girls in high heels coming up to request songs from the charts, because electronic music is apparently not what it was 10 or 15 years ago. I said, ‘You elitist cunt, you’re just like me’ Ha ha ha!” Standard-bearers for substance in a world that’s losing its soul, Primordial are steadily approaching elder statesmen status. Twenty-two years on from their debut album, they are one of black metal’s biggest, most acclaimed bands and their frontman is more ferociously focused than ever before. Ultimately, heavy metal that blazes with this much power is always worth taking seriously. Up to a point. “With this music, you ask people to be committed,” he concludes. “I think we live in a society where young men are encouraged not to grow up. Pop music is now basically for 12-year-old girls. Go to the cinema and look at what’s advertised, and I guarantee that half of the films will be cartoons. Maybe it’s the same reason why grown-ups listen to Alestorm. It’s all designed to keep men between the ages of 30 and 50 in a state of perpetual adolescence, and part of me thinks, ‘Shame on you! Grow the fuck up!’” He looks genuinely furious and exasperated before breaking into a broad grin. “Then people say, ‘People just want to have fun and you’re a grumpy old prick!’ and that’s absolutely true, too. Ha ha!”

EXILE AMONGST THE RUINS IS RELEASED ON MARCH 30 VIA METAL BLADE Alan Averill on three lessons he’s learned from history THE FOLLY OF WAR “My grandparents essentially brought me up because my parents were both working full-time. My grandfather was in the RAF in WWII and my grandmother was in the WRENS. The life lesson that my grandfather taught me was that the Germans didn’t hate the soldiers they were fighting. They understood that they

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were all doing the same thing. A recurring theme in Primordial is that sense of anonymous loss, that statistical loss of young men sent to their deaths.” THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT “Last year I went to the killing fields in Cambodia, and one thing I found fascinating was that Pol Pot was educated in the Sorbonne in Paris. He was part of

the French Marxist intelligentsia and wasn’t working class at all. He returned to Cambodia and was courting this woman who then went off with a quite well-known Cambodian singer. Heartbroken, he went out into the forest and plotted his revenge, and in four years, nearly four million people died. So I was struck by that butterfly effect idea; man has heart

broken by It Girl in 1970s Cambodia and plots revenge, which in turn leads to the death of millions of people.” NATIONAL PRIDE “There once was a time when I would definitely have hung an Irish flag over the speakers in every country, but by my late 20s I really couldn’t stand behind everything that the flag

represents. All the child abuse scandals were coming out in the 90s, so it seemed to represent an element of institutional abuse that I couldn’t support. That debate changed my views on some of the chest-beating, flag-waving elements of nationalism that I may have subscribed to 20 or so years ago. There are so many grey areas and complexities.”

KAOTEON

Having survived war, incarceration and intensive interrogations, Beirut’s steel-willed extreme metallers Kaoteon are determined to ﬁght for freedom in all its forms

erspective is an incredible thing. For most musicians in the Western world, being ambushed by guntoting detectives at a show your band is headlining, and who subsequently arrest you, throw you into the trunk of their vehicles, and proceed to interrogate you for four days just because your band chose to play metal, would undoubtedly be a horrific ordeal. But for Anthony Kaoteon, guitarist/songwriter of Lebanese black/death shapeshifters, Kaoteon, such an experience, which happened to him back in 2003, was taken in his stride because of the conditioning his upbringing in a war-torn country instilled in him. “If you lived in Lebanon and grew up in bomb shelters wearing bulletproof jackets and running from street to street to escape the heat of war, a couple of nights in jail are not what I call terrifying,” Anthony states in an eye-opening fashion. “But it absolutely reinforced every inch of me to play louder than ever before.” The reason for arresting Kaoteon was based on the authorities’ misguided belief that their music was a front for Satanism, yet all charges were dropped following lengthy, sleep-depriving interviews with the band. We are told that the Lebanese authorities’ hatred of metal continues to this day, due to their need to control anything that they deem anti-establishment. Such pressure from a government eager to silence freedom of expression, together with a lack of the resources to take their band to the next level, spurred Anthony and vocalist Walid Wolflust to relocate to Amsterdam to follow their dreams. “Europe, as a cultural ‘big city’ made up of many countries, is one of the most beautiful lands in the world,” Anthony says. “Lebanon is also a beautiful country with four seasons and a very short distance between ski slopes and sandy beaches. However, Lebanon is still stuck in time, feeding from its own flesh, with its talent abroad. When you live in a country that did not see 10 years of peace for longer than your grandfather remembers, you move elsewhere.” Looking back on his childhood, it wasn’t all centred around the perils of war, as Anthony fondly tells us that he discovered metal through his uncle, a performer who used to sing Elvis

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WORDS: DEAN BROWN

songs on Lebanese television. In addition to hard rock classics by heavyweight bands such as Led Zeppelin and the Doors, his hip-shakin’ uncle loaned him tapes of albums by Slayer, Metallica and even the grindstitution, Napalm Death. “I used to listen to anything I could get my hands on from friends and music shops,” he recalls. “I still have, back in Lebanon, old Metal Hammer issues where I would discover new bands and then try to get my hands on their music. Metal Hammer was banned from Lebanon for a while back in the day. Today, I’m not sure if you can find it there but I can still buy it from time to time in the United Arab Emirates for example.” After binging on the blastbeats of Napalm Death’s Mick Harris and Dave Lombardo’s explosive playing on early Slayer records, more extreme entities caught Anthony’s attention through his reading of metal mags and other clandestine social avenues, leading him to discover Bathory, Mayhem, Morbid Angel, Death and Emperor amongst others. Yet while those seminal bands formed a lifelong affinity for underground extremity in the young Lebanese metalhead, it was a controversial Norwegian BM act that inspired him to play his own music. “It all really started in 1998 when I got my first electric guitar and decided to do a one-man band like Burzum,” notes the Kaoteon founder. “The rest is history. I even used riffs from those days on both our first album, [2011’s] Veni Vidi Vomui, and our new album, Damnatio Memoriae.” Did the anti-religious sentiments of some of those underground metal bands draw him in, or were his interests purely musical? “I was never a big fan of lyrics unless they are really well written,” Anthony reveals. “Metal’s energy and freedom of expression and choice is what got me into the genre. There is a passion that you can’t find anywhere except in metal when 10,000 people are shouting and moving like a wave while they are crowdsurfing, moshing and keeping it safe and friendly.”

nthony’s steely determination has resulted in the creation of Kaoteon’s second studio release, the aforementioned Damnatio Memoriae. The concussive blackened death metal on this album is more technically proficient

than their debut, and its distinctive atmosphere is accentuated by Walid’s unique delivery, one of the most intense vocal performances you’ll hear this year. Also of note is that Kaoteon’s recording line-up is newly bolstered by the premier session talents of Obscura bassist Linus Klausenitzer and former Marduk blast-furnace Fredrik Widigs, both of whom increase the fluidity of the rhythm section to match Anthony’s ever-improving musicianship. “Our sound has matured over the years but the way I compose the music is still the same: keep it straightforward and as memorable as possible without losing intensity,” the ambitious songwriter explains. “I wanted the album to sound big and epic instead of fast and aggressive. I wanted the listener to sing the melodies while the music lifts their spirit and crushes their worries into the ground. I really like my riffs and I imagine them being played with an orchestra conducted by Stravinsky!” he laughs. “Walid, on the other hand, is a vocal powerhouse with a signature voice and a brother since we met in 2001 at a metal concert in Lebanon, and that is why I share everything with him today. He definitely improves my riffs with his vocals, and that’s how great songs are made in my opinion.” Anthony also stresses that their turbulent life events have given them a never-say-die attitude when it comes to pursuing their music career. “We were not traumatised nor are we victims,” he says resolutely. “We are the true voice of the underground. We might not have experienced six months of darkness and frostbitten ice, but we lived war, breathed rebellion, tasted poverty and came out strong. I take honour and pride in our story, and I pity those who are stuck in the gutter, blaming it on the system and the world. “Art doesn’t exist without struggle,” Anthony continues. “We do it because of passion, because we believe in our music, and because we hope to see more people breaking out of the system. Our bodies will rot but our music will not, and in 2018 we will try to spread our sound as much as possible so that we realise our goals. I’m already composing the next album and I promise you nothing short of 100% Mental, 100% Metal!”

DAMNATIO MEMORIAE IS OUT NOW

“ART DOESN’T EXIST WITHOUT STRUGGLE” ANTHONY KAOTEON ON THE LIBERATING NATURE OF HEAVY METAL

Anthony and Walid: never say die

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WILD SPELL Inspired by the black metal scene, Anna von Hausswolff’s otherworldly, organ-driven music has entered its own sphere of exhilaratingly raw emotion WORDS: CHRISTINA WENIG

filters. I like it when you hear flaws, when you experiences of getting carried away by the f a musician draws inspiration from hear that something is fragile or ugly. You can music made her push both the instrument and varied artists like György Ligeti, hear that the core emotion is raw and primitive, her voice to new extremes. “There’s been this Swans and PJ Harvey, you can be and the expression is very primitive as well.” ongoing craziness that I’ve been longing to sure that the outcome is going to be capture on an album. I think we managed a unique and exceptional. In the case of Swedish singer/songwriter Anna von nowing Anna’s background, her musical little bit on Dead Magic, it’s there,” she agrees. Working with producer Randall Dunn (Wolves Hausswolff, it results in organ-driven, nocturnal output and the unexpected twists and In The Throne Room, Sunn O))), Earth) for the shadow music that feeds on an almost childlike turns it takes come as no surprise; she’s first time, Dead Magic sees Anna engage in longer fascination with death and otherworldly the daughter of the renowned visual artist and songs than before, each track its own journey experiences – yet refuses to be a gothic cliché. experimental musician Carl Michael von through the soul. “I like the longer format “When I make music, I think about it as in a Hausswolff, who has spent decades in Sweden’s because it helps me get into a certain state of landscape. It can be a kind of sound or a texture underground and art scenes, which have been mind or a different world and explore it a little that I’m looking for, or clashes between different working with drone music for many years. This bit,” she explains. “My first idea was to make kinds of textures and atmospheres,” the 31-year- background fed into her spirit to push and cross old explains in regard to the release of her fourth stylistic boundaries, but it also caused a sense of one long track because I really love the idea of making an album like it’s a movie – that there album, Dead Magic. “I can’t say that I want to intimidation that she only learned to overcome are no breaks, no pauses, just one long fluid line create a specific genre or that there is a singular after discovering the heavier side of drone. that goes up and down in various angles.” thing I want to say. I see music more as story“The art scene works in a different way to the But when it came time to start working on her telling or a way to explore a certain universe.” underground experimental scene. It’s more elitist Even though her music contains elements and I think my entire life I’ve been afraid of that fourth album, Anna’s mind was scattered and she found herself overwhelmed by emotions from pop to contemporary classical music and scene because it can be extremely pretentious.” folk, there is a heaviness and gloom to it that Getting to know bands like Earth and Sunn O))) that led to a more fragmented writing process. “When I wrote this album, I was not in a good inevitably traces back to Anna’s gusto for metal. strengthened the Gothenburg-based musician’s place. I was exhausted, I was in a passive state “I started with classic bands like Black Sabbath trust in her own potential and ability to step of mind. It felt like I was not really in contact and AC/DC,” she recollects, “because I played outside the world of singer/songwriter music with my emotions and my creativity,” she says. drums in high school. I wasn’t very good – I was and engage in layered and textured spacious So she did what she does best; she processed extremely hard and loud but not very technical. and ponderous soundscapes. her feelings in an artistic way, putting the things So then I really liked these slower, easier hard “When I heard Earth for the first time, I was rock bands that were still very heavy.” very relieved to hear a band who weren’t coming that dragged her down into music to eventually But it wasn’t until she moved to Copenhagen from the art scene but from the metal scene, and overcome them. Now, over one year later, the musician realises that she was stuck in a paradox in her 20s that she learned to appreciate black they were trying to challenge people and the that was metal as something connected to her fresh and inspiring. previous album. “I was at a friend’s “The Miraculous place and he started was very much playing Burzum,” about how your mind and she explains with a bashful ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF TESTIFIES TO THE OTHERNESS OF TRUE ART imagination work,” she says. smile, knowing the dangerous “You can combine fantasy with reality to potential this name has; in 2013 genre and make it their own,” she recalls. “It manipulate your surroundings and create this the singer faced some serious backlash after was inspiring to see that bands are starting to magical place. With this album, it was like I’ve appearing on the cover of a Swedish newspaper explore the drone territory within the more been preaching about that place and about the in a shirt of extremist neo-paganist Varg popular culture and that I can come from this importance of imagination and creativity for Vikernes’ band – eventually leading her to place and also allow myself to enter more so long and then suddenly, I’m in a place where distance herself from his personal views. challenging and experimental territories.” Remembering her first musical encounter Since 2012, her weapon of choice for that is the I don’t feel I have contact with it anymore.” Experiencing and defeating this destructive with Burzum, she proceeds: “I couldn’t continue organ. After releasing her piano-driven debut, power that was playing tricks on her mind, Anna talking because there was something very Singing From The Grave, in 2010, the recording von Hausswolff sees Dead Magic as a celebration captivating about the melodies and harmonies sessions for her sophomore album, Ceremony, of the imagination, an encouragement to never and the atmosphere. So that was a starting were her first physical encounter with a pipe stop believing in it and, not least, in the spiritual point for me.” From there she discovered more organ. “And now I’m stuck,” she says, laughing. and transcendental power of music. As she Norwegian and then Swedish black metal and She enjoys playing with the whole room, explains, “It’s important that there is a mystery now cites Attila Csihar, singer of her favourite making use of a giant frequency range that can to music, another universe that you can’t really black metal band, Mayhem, as one of her main be put to use for simple and quiet parts as well explain or understand; you just feel the energy vocal inspirations, alongside the likes of as noisy and heavy ones. “You can orchestrate of it. That’s quite magical, I think.” avant-garde queen Diamanda Galás. entire songs with just one instrument because “When I sing, I try to be as direct and as much the possibilities are endless,” she swoons. Her in connection with my emotions as possible,” she new release, Dead Magic, sees her become more DEAD MAGIC IS RELEASED ON MARCH 2 explains, drawing parallels. “I don’t like to use familiar with the pipe organ while her live VIA CITY SLANG

“IT’S IMPORTANT THAT THERE IS A MYSTERY TO MUSIC”

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ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF

Anna von Hausswolff fuses different spheres of inï¬&#x201A;uence

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Demonomancy’s former drummer lacked certain “resources”

DEMONOMANCY

ABOMINABLE BLACK/DEATH BATTERY!

Italian Beherit devotees uncover their own mystic path WORDS: OLIVIER BADIN

aving taken their moniker from a Beherit demo, it came as no surprise that Demonomancy’s 2013 debut album, Throne Of Demonic Proselytism – and subsequent split with Witchcraft (not the Swedish retro-doomsters but a Finnish entity of the same name) – was firmly rooted in the Drawing Down the Moon tradition: proving barbaric yet eerie at the same time. “That name always had a deeper meaning for us,” clarifies Witches Whipping, the Italian band’s vocalist, guitarist and sole remaining original member. “It portrays our relationship with our art extremely well. It’s as if this brutal music’s surreal, occult and abominable themes were a gateway to better comprehend ourselves and the meaning of life itself, a concept that has a lot in common with the ritual of demonomantic divination anyway.”

ut then, something happened on the way to the battlefield. A few years later, and with a renewal of two-thirds of their line-up, new album Poisoned Atonement sees Demonomancy taking a slight left turn, albeit in a similar, FOAD fashion. “Although it was released in 2016 after the two new guys had been drafted already, that Witchcraft split was actually recorded by the old line-up and it includes one original song that was quite pivotal for us,” Witches Whipping explains. “We had been experiencing a lengthy writer’s block for almost three and a half years, as we had a very hard time visualising how Demonomancy could be different from the Throne… era. But we’d been talking about doing a split with Witchcraft for a long time, so that actually gave us the motivation we needed to really move forward and this marked the beginning of a new, more positive state of mind. In the end, Poisoned Atonement was written in

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“The occult is a key to the meaning of life’ WITCHES WHIPPING

about 18 months, as if a river of creativity was finally violently overflowing the dams that were keeping it down.” The arrival of both a new “resourceful” drummer, Herald Of The Outer Realm, who could also do vocals and A. Cutthroat, a bass player with a more classic heavy/speed metal background (Vesper, Demon Bell) urged them to follow a surprising and more ‘fist in the air’ direction, with a song like The Day Of The Lord daring using a near-singalong, repetitive and anthemic chorus. “I have always seen our music as an extreme version of heavy metal as opposed to ‘war metal’ – a label I have always hated to see attached to my band,” says the frontman. ‘The defining factor is that I grew up listening to a lot of thrash metal, so even when I discovered bands like Blasphemy, Archgoat or Profanatica, I also loved classic acts like Cirith Ungol, Manilla Road and Angel Witch. I’m glad you’ve picked up on The Day Of The Lord, as this is probably my favourite track. There are so many sides to it, like blastbeats merging with an epic yet ominous atmosphere and, for the first time, a melodic yet minimalistic solo. Overall, I guess that what has changed now is that we managed to allow all our influences to come to the surface and merge into a formula that is truly ours.” LINE-UP: Witches Whipping (guitar, vocals), A. Cutthroat (bass), Herald Of The Outer Realm (drums, vocals) HOMETOWN: Rome, Italy SOUNDS LIKE: Brutal, war metal battery combined with classic heavy metal, like Bestial Warlust covering Celtic Frost in epic mode. FOR FANS OF: Grave Desecrator, Celtic Frost, Nifelheim CURRENT RELEASE: Poisoned Atonement (Invictus Productions, 2018) WEBSITE: https://demonomancy.bandcamp.com

Spite’s Salpsan: Antimoshiach Superstar

Whipstriker has Venom in his bloodstream

BATHORYCHARGED, METAL BRUTALITY! ARMAGEDDONINVOKING BM BARRAGES!

SPITE

WHIPSTRIKER

NYC esotericist seeks Judaic-styled damnation

Brazil’s metal militant ﬁnds war on his doorstep

WORDS: OLIVIER BADIN

WORDS: DOM LAWSON

pite is the solo project of Brooklyn, NY-based multiinstrumentalist Salpsan. His mission? To represent “the gritty, unpolished parts of NYC you won’t see on TV, yet still exist, which also birthed our forefathers Carnivore, Type O Negative and many notable NYHC legends.” While he admits that playing as live drummer for both Occultation and Negative Plane in 2014-15 taught him a lot, he freely cites the old guard of Norwegian black metal – Satyricon, Immortal, Darkthrone, etc – as influences, as well as other respected bands like Craft, Behexen and Katharsis. “All that being said,” he states, “Slayer is still the greatest source of inspiration for me, and in my opinion Hell Awaits is the finest black metal album ever written.” Spite’s debut full-length, Antimoshiach, was recorded and mixed over the course of just eight days in London in December 2016 where he was temporarily stranded, as he was due to be touring as the bass player with local NWOBHM revivalists Amulet. Their singer, Jamie Elton, recorded

and produced the album in his own studio. The term ‘Moshiach’ stands for Messiah in Judaism, a religion and culture that Salpsan grew up around. “It had an enormous presence in NYC compared to other American cities,” he explains. “The language, songs, and texts of Judaism can evoke very powerful and dark themes, which seemed fitting for the grand imagery I am trying to evoke with Spite. ‘Antimoshiach’ can be synonymous with ‘Antichrist’, but also generally designates an unholy anointed figure who will ascend and be the catalyst for Armageddon.” For Salpsan, Spite’s lyrical themes are of paramount of importance, and to that end he’s adapted passages of both Judaic and Christian mythos to include the presence of the Devil and the Antimessiah. “There are also some lyrical references to themes and characters in Spite’s older songs,” he says, “as this project is intended to be a cohesive canon of blasphemous mythology, but I’ll leave it up to the listener to find all the connecting threads.”

LINE-UP: Salpsan (all instruments) HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, USA SOUNDS LIKE: Rough-edged, old-school black metal with classic heavy metal riffs and an occult bent thrown in for good measure. FOR FANS OF: Craft, Darkthrone, Negative Plane CURRENT RELEASE: Antimoshiach (Invictus Productions, 2018) WEBSITE: www.facebook.com/spitedesecration

ou don’t even need to listen to Whipstriker’s new album, Merciless Artillery, to know that it’ll scratch that old-school itch; the artwork alone screams of a world where war reigns eternally and the radio plays Venom, Motörhead and (early) Bathory on a loop. Forever. “My musical vision has never changed,” says Whipstriker mastermind Victor Vasconcellos. “I love the 80s and 70s sound. There are no rules, I just hate it when bands mix ‘pure’ metal with other styles, like rap. All the bands I like from the 80s are shit nowadays, especially the thrash bands. In the 90s they tried to include new influences in their sounds and they became shit!” One of numerous projects that Victor has pursued over the years (others include Atomic Roar, Kuld and Virgin’s Vomit), Whipstriker took early inspiration from the experience of touring as a member of Joel Grind’s Toxic Holocaust and he decided to emulate that band’s singularity of vision and execution with a line-blurring blackened punk/metal crusade of his own. On the 29th Whipstriker release in less

than a decade, Victor has taken a more focused metallic approach. “We have fewer punk influences this time,” Victor notes. “It has a more speed/thrash vibe. You know that classic Motörhead/Warfare beat? We used to do it a lot; now we are doing it less. I’ve been listening to a lot of albums that I grew up with, like Endless Pain, Show No Mercy and Seven Churches… but we never forget Venom! There is a song called Mantas’ Black Mass. Listen to it and draw your own conclusions.” As much as their music sounds like a celebration of underground metal’s filthy origins, Whipstriker’s dark edge comes as much from grim reality as from nostalgia. Living in urban Brazil is clearly no picnic, and the wars that erupt in Victor’s songs are brutal echoes of the real thing. Now that’s fucking metal. “There is a civil war in Rio de Janeiro,” he says. “I see innocent people dying and tanks parading every day. I see children holding big guns and killing for fun. I see cops raping people. So yeah, the new album is about war… except for the song for Mantas!”

LINE-UP: Whipstriker (bass/vocals), Skullkrusher (drums), Witchcaptor (guitars), Doomhammer (guitars) HOMETOWN: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil SOUNDS LIKE: Cronos, Lemmy and Quorthon, shirtless and dancing in the ﬂames of the apocalypse. FOR FANS OF: Venom, Toxic Holocaust, Midnight CURRENT RELEASE: Merciless Artillery (Hells Headbangers, 2018) WEBSITE: www.facebook.com/whipstriker

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Apostle Of Solitude From Gold To Ash CRUZ DEL SUR Indianapolis doom crew go awry in search of alchemy

Dark Buddha Rising: hex addicts

Dark Buddha Rising II

NEUROT RECORDINGS

Finnish psychonauts trip the blight fantastic FOR THE PAST 10 years, lurking beneath the streets of Tampere, Finland, a collective of musicians have been constructing a gateway – an intangible portal to realms beyond that of our own within a subterranean lair its members call an ‘asylum of eternal feedback’. The Wastement collective as they have come to be known, named after their creative centre, consists of several bands, all of whom share members, most notably psych metal fusionists Oranssi Pazuzu and the shamanic Dark Buddha Rising, who return to their roots on II – an offering of almost 30 minutes of music split over two tracks. A reference to I, their first release in 2007, II is their attempt to clear their spiritual path by finally releasing material that has been part of their live ritual since their inception. Initially composed in freeform jam sessions, the band find a riff and manipulate it to the point at which they, and by extension, you, become lost in it. Mahathgata I is a perfect example, a shamanic voice chanting before a tumultuous void, soon all encompassed by a yawning riff chasm that lasts for 15 crushing minutes, contorted by keys, chants, rants and abyssal atmospherics. Mahathgata II is a little more Zen, its opening chimes ringing in the darkness, raising hairs on your neck. Ritualistic chants gather to an exultant chorus,

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Formed in 2004 by The Gates Of Slumber’s first skinbasher, Chuck Brown – here on vocals and guitar – Apostle Of Solitude have since flown under the radar, and you can understand why by listening to their sophomore album. While it’s already somewhat questionable to start off your new set of seven songs with not one but two instrumentals in a row, it’s really this Indianapolis-based fourpiece’s incapacity to fully achieve their goals that ultimately drags them down. They’re rooted in classic doom metal and even have two vocalists, but neither of them have the melodramatic pipes of, say, Messiah Marcolin, nor are they flexible enough to allow them to follow Pallbearer’s example and manoeuvre gracefully throughout the many attempted melodic passages. Besides, the actual doom parts simply aren’t that gripping enough, proof that it takes more than playing slow and sounding miserable to truly be born too late.

FOR FANS OF: Pallbearer, Black Sabbath, Candlemass OLIVIER BADIN

the air pregnant with an expectancy that turns to despair as the relentlessly plodding, predatory riff they’ve summoned is met by howls of anguish. The band, down in their dark dwelling, confront horrors most intangible and foul, that they might overcome them, seeking strength and rejuvenation. Dark Buddha Rising are not an entity that requires much analysis – to do so would be to defeat their objective of getting you outside of your head, stripping away the layers of your corporeal self, your awareness of your physical and intellectual existence on this earthly plane. Attune in, turn off, and space out. FOR FANS OF: Nibiru, Oranssi Pazuzu, Saturnalia Temple TOM O’BOYLE

Ataraxy Where All Hope Fades DARK DESCENT Doom-laden death metallers pile on some emotional weight

Ataraxy have been around for 10 years and yet this is only their second album to date, the group apparently working somewhat sporadically. Still, if it takes time to create a record like Where All Hope Fades then the group should be applauded

for not rushing things – a comment that could be made of the music itself. Ataraxy are consistently described as death metal, but death-doom would be a much more accurate label. What you have here is a skilful blend of crushing aggression and eerie introspection, and while the riffs carry a definite classic Scandinavian death metal flavour and the vocals are suitably Obituary-esque, the despairing and almost blackened crawl of claustrophobic numbers such as Matter Lost In Time and As Uembras D’o Hibierno are as much about emotive atmospheres and outright aggression. Where All Hope Fades is immersive and rewarding, regardless of label.

FOR FANS OF: Asphyx, Hooded Menace, Pantheist DAYAL PATTERSON

Atomwinter Catacombs TROLLZORN German Bolt Thower enthusiasts find their own horrific groove

Bolt Thrower are still one of death metal’s most emulated bands, there being something instantly recognisable and addictive about their heady and heavy-as-fuck simple grooves. Atomwinter have surely worn out a few copies of The IVth Crusade but to call them a clone wouldn’t be fair – we have Humiliation, Weak Aside, Psychopathic Terror and War Master taking care of that, thank you very much. What these Germans have learnt from Karl Willetts and co is the ability to convey the impression of being constantly run over by a tank. But they’re also HM-2 effect pedals collectors, have the kind of simple moshinducing breaks Asphyx would love to snag and are more obsessed with good ol’ horror movies than they are with war. Catacombs is hardly original but it is instantly catchy, and it delivers what you’d expect from an old-school death metal album in 2018.

FOR FANS OF: Bolt Thrower, Grave, Facebreaker OLIVIER BADIN

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH.

Deströyer 666 Call Of The Wild SEASON OF MIST Black-thrash barbarians cough up a bare-knuckled stopgap

Deströyer 666 have regularly utilised the EP format as a means to transition between fulllengths. Their latest EP follows the anthemic and mighty Wildfire – an album that felt like being kicked in the head by one of Satan’s gilded hooves. It’s comprised of three new songs and a rekindled version of the slowburning epic, Trialed By Fire, previously released on 2003 EP Terror Abraxas. The spirited new songs see the black-thrash heathens indulge in proto-BM and NWOBHM thuggery. The raw production is a far cry from Wildfire’s bombast, suiting the Venom-ous Violence Is Golden, the galloping and hook-laden Stone By Stone, and the thrashing tempos of the fist-pumping title track. KK Warslut and company may be outspoken and deemed controversial by some, but, like all of the best metal bands, there’s no doubting their mastery of the riff and hook.

FOR FANS OF: Midnight, Venom, Tsjuder DEAN BROWN

Drudkh They Often See Dreams About The Spring SOM – UNDERGROUND ACTIVISTS East Europe’s enigmatic BM pioneers ramp up the aggression

Ukraine’s Drudkh hold a unique place in the black metal canon, having maintained a significant following for a decade and a half despite a refusal to do interviews and questions over political sympathies. The reason for this quiet success is the quality and honesty of the band’s output and this, the band’s 13th full-length release, does nothing to tarnish

their stellar reputation. Dense and earnest BM with lengthy midpaced riffs and fast percussion is the order of the day, the songs leaning away from the group’s more folky and melancholic manifestations. Not to suggest the material is particularly upbeat mind you, but this is Drudkh at their more aggressive and steadfast, with minimal diversions or breaks in the tracks. Some will prefer the more distinctive and sorrowful works of the past but it’s hard to deny the quality here.

their name from Geist toyed with similar gothic textures and orchestral arrangements as heard on this EP, however the duo of Albîon and Abarus have struck a finer balance between naturalistic atmospherics and desolate black metal here.

Cripple Bastards are fulﬁlling all your grindcore needs

FOR FANS OF: Vemod, Altar Of Plagues, Downfall Of Gaia DEAN BROWN

FOR FANS OF: Winterfylleth, Kroda, Agalloch

Cripple Bastards

DAYAL PATTERSON

The Outside World F.O.A.D.

The noisiest, biggest grindcore boxset ever?

Anna von Hausswolff

BEFORE BEING A

Dead Magic CITY SLANG Swedish chanteuse takes a feral leap beyond the ‘funeral pop’ tag

Eïs Stillstand Und Heimkehr PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS Multi-textured black metal odysseys from the dark heart of Germany

Eïs have written their most direct and cohesive material yet on the two-song, 22-minute EP Stillstand und Heimkehr. An Den Schwarz Besandeten Gestaden opens with the calming sound of waves lapping underpinned by a minimalistic piano figure before blasts and harsh riffing coupled melodic guitar lines and Burzumstyled screams destroy the tranquillity. The song then shifts through ambient and doom passages before returning to dense tremolo-picking and faster tempos. The title track takes a slower approach initially, finding power in a Behemoth-esque midpaced stomp until the trajectory swiftly changes through blistering double-bass and throttling, yet somewhat ceremonial guitars. Eïs’s two albums since changing

On her fourth album, Anna von Hausswolff is being swallowed by darkness and finally outgrows the ‘funeral pop’ tag – a classification that never did her justice anyway. Dead Magic is a sinister, heavy and hypnotising journey through organ-driven psychedelic, postrock and dark ambient, traversed by sacral severity. From the 12and 16-minute-long atmospheric epics The Truth, The Glow, The Fall and Ugly And Vengeful to the fierce and excessive The Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra, Anna delivers her most daring yet focused performance while cutting down the tracklist to only five songs. Constantly shifting between feral madness and delicate innocence, her voice is a gift that keeps on giving. Together with the organ that is prominently featured in the instrumental The Marble Eye, it creates a nightmarish sense of drama that is nearly impossible to resist.

FOR FANS OF: Dead Can Dance, Marissa Nadler, Jarboe CHRISTINA WENIG

record label, F.O.A.D. was a crossover/ thrashcore fanzine totally immersed in the tape-trading scene getting crazy over 12th-generation tapes of Cryptic Slaughter rehearsals. That mentality shines through most of their releases, each of them being like a test on how far your fandom can take you. The Outside World offers a characteristic challenge: five LPs, two CDs – plus an extra split EP with Yacopsae for the limited version – and two books full of flyers, pictures and lyrics for a total of 362 tracks, dating from 1992-2012. Basically, it’s everything Italy’s most enduring grindcore machine has committed to tape, bar their five full-lengths, over those two decades. But this five-hour blastfest feels more like a celebration of a certain idea of what the word ‘underground’ means than of the band themselves, especially since Cripple Bastards have taken a few left turns over their career. You’ll probably end up listening to their earliest material only once and skip directly to their post-00s, far more convincing rumblings. But you can’t help but be impressed by how their conviction has remained unshakable, the list of the bands they’ve done splits with, which reads like a who’s who of the genre’s A-list, and overall, the volume of music on display here. This is like a monument erected in grindcore’s glory.

FOR FANS OF: Napalm Death, Siege, Cryptic Slaughter OLIVIER BADIN

Original Sins A CLASSIC ALBUM FROM THE DARKEST VAULT John Zorn Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman ELEKTRA 1989

He came come from the NYC jazz scene, but John Zorn was always one of us. Spy Vs Spy arrived in 1989, an artfully deranged assault on revered classics by free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman that aggressively celebrated the maverick

saxophonist’s new love: grindcore. Delivered at full pelt, the likes of Chronology and Blues Connotation were arguably too fast and frantic for jazz aﬁcionados and too, er, jazzy for metalheads. For fans of fuckedup, swivel-eyed sonic madness,

however, Zorn’s ﬁrst lunge into our world made perfect sense. He went on to form Naked City, produce Mr. Bungle and collaborate with Napalm Death, but this was where Zorn and extreme metal had their ﬁrst passionate clinch.

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Horizon Ablaze The Weight Of A Thousand Suns LEVIATAN/DIGER Norwegian BM collective fail to match adventure to their ambition

Pestilence: polished, punchy and subtly prescient

Pestilence Hadeon

HAMMERHEART

Dutch destroyers keep it simple and weird

WHEN PESTILENCE RELEASED their fourth album, Spheres, in May 1993, the death metal world responded, almost in unison, with a snort of derision. It seems ridiculous now that anyone could object to what was a wonderfully imaginative attempt to push extreme music forward, jazz inflections and all, but back then mainman Patrick Mameli was so far ahead of the game that he had to concede that the world wasn’t ready and Pestilence split in 1994. These days, of course, the band are back to playing something that strongly resembles the muscular, groove-driven brutality that made earlier records like Testimony Of The Ancients such essential listening. Meanwhile, the death metal that Patrick did so much to expand has travelled into realms of warped surrealism and avant-garde complexity that make Spheres sound like Slowly We Rot. It’s a funny old game. The fourth Pestilence album since Patrick revived his band in 2008, Hadeon sounds as timely and subtly prescient as you might expect from such a creatively restless figure. This is polished and punchy modern death metal, but still underpinned by the Dutchman’s instinctive knack for textural and melodic disruption. Songs like Manifestations and Electro Magnetic exhibit plenty of old-school grit and spiky melodic motifs that reek of the early 90s, but there’s always something dissonant, disorientating or otherworldly lurking in the sonic background. As with 2013’s Obsideo album, the production here is crisp and precise, but there’s plenty of dirt under Patrick and new guitarist Calin Paraschiv’s fingernails as they spiral and scythe across a pinpoint rhythmic bedrock. Anyone hoping for some extravagant progressive flourishes may be disappointed to find that Hadeo boasts 11 sharp and succinct three-minute songs that are primarily riff-driven and devoid of peripheral fat. Yes, the days when Pestilence were miles ahead of the game are long gone, but they still sound unique, and from a much cooler parallel dimension than this one.

FOR FANS OF: Morbid Angel, Fallujah, Vektor DOM LAWSON

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Hailing from Kristiansand, Norway, Horizon Ablaze have been in existence for a clean decade and feature members of respectable acts such as Den Saakaldte, Pantheon I, Blood Red Throne and Svartelder. Their sound is described as ‘avant-garde extreme metal’ – how avantgarde it is is somewhat debatable, but the ‘extreme metal’ label underlines their refusal to slot easily into any subgenre. Combining crushing death metal, cold and calculating ‘modern’ black metal and even, dare it be said, definite hardcore overtones, their sound is a weighty one, not short of riffs but definitely leaning toward the abrasive and unmelodic. While blending numerous elements during its playtime from clean guitars to high-paced blastbeats, The Weight… is nevertheless tonally somewhat narrow and while there is definite crossover potential in terms of fanbase, some listeners may find it a little too flat to get overly excited.

FOR FANS OF: Blood Red Throne, (Mid-period) Gehenna, Neurosis DAYAL PATTERSON

Lurker Of Chalice Lurker Of Chalice NUCLEAR WAR NOW!

word segments, gloomy synths and, on Vortex Chalice, neo-folk filters. There’s one spark of hope in the opening stages of Piercing Where They Might, where birdsong colours the introduction, but the song swiftly moves into the pitch black and it’s the last light in an album coloured by depression. This Blood Falls As Mortal (Part III) utilises Sylvia Plath’s texts to highlight the all-encompassing desolation while Granite bursts with fury. It’s one of the more strictly BM tracks on an album that favours ambient structures over blastbeats.

headbangers like Killing Flaw to droning miasmas of twin-harmony dejection like Ghosts Of Parlous Lives. An effective, earthy companion piece to their last, more experimental offering, but perhaps the optimum MSW LP will be the one that tastefully melds these approaches.

FOR FANS OF: Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Mourning Beloveth CHRIS CHANTLER

FOR FANS OF: Leviathan, Caïna, Xasthur CHERYL CARTER

Old Mother Hell Old Mother Hell CRUZ DEL SUR Mannheim-based newbies nail the trad doom dynamics

My Silent Wake There Was Death MINOTAURO Prolific British doom-death crew find themselves on the up

Astonishingly, this is the Westonsuper-Mare-based gothic doomdeath ensemble’s 10th album since 2006, and they’ve many more EPs, singles, compilations and splits besides. Inevitably, results of this creative incontinence have been uneven; at times it’s devastating, elsewhere the ‘Poundland My Dying Bride’ tag has seemed valid. But singer/guitarist Ian Arkley has maintained a committed presence in the metal underground for 30 years, so respect is due for continuing to mastermind albums as solid as this. 2016’s Invitation To Imperfection was an ear-opening soundscape of supernatural dark ambience, and this metallic homecoming extends MSW’s purple patch, running the metal gamut from squealing-lead

This amusingly named German trio’s half-hour debut kicked up a stink in their homeland when it was independently released via Bandcamp last year, but happily those discerning tastemakers at Cruz Del Sur have picked it up and turned it into an artefact. Old Mother Hell have zero interest in reinventing the steel, but they – and we – have great fun lurching between epic caveman gallop and downcast doom plod, topped with impassioned vocals and punchthe-air choruses. There’s an endearing eagerness to please, and a wide-eyed conviction that makes a virtue of their well-worn, slightly over-familiar material. But it’s their first recording and they’ve already got their chops nailed, plus some discreetly quirky guitar work and affecting melodies glimpsed behind the hard-riffing Teutonic bravado. Ones to watch, if you can see for headbanging.

FOR FANS OF: Wolf, Sodom, High On Fire CHRIS CHANTLER

My Favourite Artwork

Leviathan linchpin dredges up his ambient ode to the dark

JON DAVIS

Long out of print since its initial debut in 2005, Lurker Of Chalice is less the result of a Jef ‘Wrest’ Whitehead/Leviathan side-project and more of a vessel to channel the darkness found within. Where Leviathan is more traditionally black metal, LOC uses the genre as its base but twists it with spoken-

HIGH ON FIRE

Conan Surrounded By Theives “I think the artwork is perfect for this album. Thick, heavy production, songs that conjure images of dark ancient times, fronted by the image of a seemingly undead warrior. It really captured my imagination and is a huge inspiration for our whole direction in Conan.”

148 PAGES !

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Rapture Paroxysm Of Hatred MEMENTO MORI Greek death/thrashers keep blazing along the same path

Yob are reaching for a higher plane of being

Resurrections

Unearthing the latest extreme reissues

SOME OF THE most coveted material in VENOM’s illustrious catalogue finally gets a comprehensive release with Assault! (Dissonance) [8], a box set boasting all six of the pioneering band’s limited release EPs from the mid-80s, including the previously unofficial Japanese and Canadian Assault EPs. A mixture of raw and raging studio material and wartsand-more-warts live stuff, it’s hard to deny either the snarling, ragged glory of the original Venom line-up or the reality that only rabid fans will want to sit through the full two hours. Total immersion is really the only option when revisiting YOB’s much-worshipped The Grand Cessation (Relapse) [9]. Simply one of the greatest doom albums of the last decade, it hardly needed to be remastered or graced with new artwork, but it has been… so why not buy it again? With levels of sonic and otherworldly power that few can touch, it remains a career peak for Mike Scheidt’s crew and one of the wildest rides in metal history. Similarly untamed but in a different musical realm, BLIND IDIOT GOD’s seminal second album Undertow (Indivisible Music) [9] brought clattering, prog-tinged noise rock and bowel-bothering dub reggae together, with bass guru Bill Laswell manning the controls. The result sounded light years ahead of its time in 1989 and still sounds thrillingly brave. This sonically and visually sparkling revamp should help to spread the word about an unsung classic. The hot-boxing, tripped-out weirdos to Fu Manchu’s exuberant, glue-sniffing skate dudes, NEBULA were always a cut above their stoner rock peers. Plus, the drummer had a gong. Always a winner. Debut EP Let It Burn [7], split comp Dos EPs [7] and first fulllength To The Center [8] (all Heavy Psych Sounds) come from the Californians’ first flurry of creativity and every moment hits the psychedelic spot. More bands should have gongs. You wouldn’t trust CONAN with a gong, though. They’d probably eat it. Man Is Myth (Early Demos) (Napalm) [7] collates rehearsal and studio rough cuts, and is as monstrously heavy and gloriously Neanderthal as you might expect. In the end, riffs always win. DOM LAWSON

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Formed in Athens in 2013, Rapture earned a lot of initial praise for the intense and insanely fast sounds on their debut record, Crimes Against Humanity. Their second full-length, Paroxysm Of Hatred, resolutely sticks to an ‘if it ain’t broke’ plan of attack and serves up 41 minutes of death-peppered thrash metal in the vein of early Sepultura and Dark Angel’s Time Does Not Heal. Though the record does suffer from the four-piece going back to the same well one too many times, particularly on efforts like Taken By Apathy, whose title is a little too on the nose, and the tedious Misanthropic Outburst, the safe-sounding record is still a solid listen for the most part. Redemption Through Isolation has some stunning, fretboardbased gymnastics, while epic closing track Paroxysm Of Hatred: Revelation ends proceedings with a bang.

FOR FANS OF: Dark Angel, Sadus, Sodom EDWIN McFEE

Spite Antimoshiach INVICTUS PRODUCTIONS Progressive, esoteric invocations from NY’s blackened boroughs

Brooklyn-based multiinstrumentalist Salpsan might be notable for his live work with Occultation and Negative Plane, but now he’s unveiled his debut opus of esoteric blackened heavy metal, swirling with mysticism and madness. Employing the same eccentric, jaunty unpredictability and discordant jangle as Negative

Plane, Spite avoids the usual black metal formula for something more avant-garde and unorthodox, showcasing a more intriguing underbelly of tricky prog rock and angular post-punk rhythms, underpinning the album’s arcane subject matter with more thought-provoking atmospherics. Spite won’t have the listener headbanging and thrashing as Antimoshiach’s quality lies in its ability to induce a more reflective aura as the band’s shrieking esoteric puzzles unfold. The complex and curiously winding odes to the Anti-Messiah are all the more impressive for having been recorded in painstaking analogue for that added quality control of cobwebbed murk.

Wrath Of The Beast. Third track The Great Beast is a wickedly fun ride that has no right to be as catchy as it is, the chorus alone proving worth your money, and in vocalist Antichrist 666 the band has a leader who is fire and fury personified.

FOR FANS OF: Inquisition, Deströyer 666, Mysticum CHERYL CARTER

FOR FANS OF: Negative Plane, Head Of The Demon, Occultation LIAM YATES

Whipstriker Merciless Artillery HELLS HEADBANGERS Brazilian metal maniac skewers his influences on his sleeve

Thy Antichrist Wrath Of The Beast NAPALM Colombia’s black/thrash battalion move their base of operations

For Thy Antichrist – who have been on the black metal scene for almost 20 years – their location in Colombia meant that their career hit a stagnation point for quite a while. Releasing only one previous full-length in 2004, the band moved themselves to the US in order to ramp up their ability to get themselves heard. Rooted in the thrashier side of black metal, and bringing in occasional Latin-style guitar, Thy Antichrist have finally hit a stride that should see them make waves with their sophomore record,

Brazil’s Whipstriker is a oneman underground machine with 29 releases so far, mostly singles and split EPs, as well as dozens from other bands he has been involved with. No one can question his work ethic and luckily the quality does not suffer. Merciless Artillery, which is album number four, belches eight slices of frenetic punk-tinged thrashing metal that never outstay their welcome. The Voivod-esque artwork sets the scene. Titles like Mantas’ Black Mass and Soldier Of Sodom leave you in no doubt. All eyes are firmly on the mid-80s – Motörhead and Exciter riffs meet Razor and early Slayer in a derelict building, get drunk on cheap cider and wake in the morning with black eyes. There is little time for subtlety or finesse; this is metal for drinking and headbanging. No idea what Enemies Leather means but damn, it sounds good.

FOR FANS OF: Venom, Midnight, Darkthrone ALASTAIR RIDDELL

Inspirations From Beyond DYLAN DESMOND Bell Witch

NEUROSIS Through Silver in Blood “I had their first two records, but I was unprepared when I jumped forward with this one. I was 14 and there were elements I was drawn to, but couldn’t figure out the parts in between. I listened to it hard and often. There are still elements I feel like I’m understanding for the first time.”

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Batushka’s Bartłomiej brings illumination to the masses

Something real and organic is happening here

Batushka SCHAMMASCH

ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL, LONDON Schammasch’s C.S .R: hood vibrations

Cult Poles bring take their Russian Orthodox-styled BM to a new plane THERE’S SOMETHING IN the air tonight, and it’s

iy e Oc hi sh ch en ye ni Bl ag os lo ve Pr em ud ro st M ilo st ho d Sv ya ty y Vk Up ov an e Is ti na Sp as en iy e

128 METALHAMMER.COM

not just the foul stench of blasphemy. For on this Sunday, the holiest of days, a sinister sermon is taking place inside the grandiose surroundings of this historic venue in north London. Opening proceedings are Switzerland’s SCHAMMASCH [7]. With secretive frontman C.S.R draped in his trademark cloak and facepaint, the avant-garde black metallers blast through an hour of spiritual hatred – which is short by their standards. The material from magnum opus Triangle easily stands above the rest of the set, but disappointingly they’re hindered by a muddy sound, losing much of the nuances and subtleties amongst the destruction. Of course, as great as it is to see Schammasch’s pomp and ceremony, tonight is really all about the headliners. Embarking on a European tour, dubbed the Pilgrimage, tonight is apparently BATUSHKA’s [9] biggest ever show outside of Poland, and it’s packed. Despite dabbling in an arguably more palatable brand of extremity, this is a thoroughly metal crowd – not the true cult hordes Watain attract, but Satyricon and Behemoth t-shirts abound. As the lights go down, a hushed silence takes the crowd, waiting to see the hidden figures make their UK debut, and if the fables of their black masses are true. A minion

enters the stage and silently lights the myriad candles across the front of the stage, flanking the pulpit on which sit sacred texts and a portrait of Mary. Various other religious iconography and skeletal curios fill the stage, while a gigantic faceless Madonna stares out from the back. True care and attention has been paid to the aesthetic, including the outfits of the eight anonymous bandmembers, led by the beastlike Bartłomiej. Having released their debut album, Litourgiya, in 2015, the band have remained firmly underground, but tonight’s gathering of believers have been baptised in blood of Batushka. Bartłomiej’s baritone bellows ring out across the sold out hall of sinners, juxtaposed by his glass-shattering screams, and bolstered by the threeman choir of anonymous chanters. Premudrost sends the amassed hordes into raptures, clapping and singing as one wicked entity, having their souls sullied in the process. It’s a short performance (what do you expect from a band with one album?) but enough to satiate the appetite for heresy. But there’s more to this band than onstage rituals and incense; something real and organic is happening here, bubbling below the surface, ready to summon us all down to the depths for eternity. LUKE MORTON

REVIEWS ALBUMS. LIVES. MERCH. Rebaelliun get to grip with their gremlins

Execration

Septicﬂesh: heroes from another dimension

REPTILIAN/DECREPIT /SEPREVATION THE BLACK HEART, LONDON

SEPREVATION [7] kick tonight off with a blast of fire and fury. They perform better with a fully warmed-up crowd, but their speedy old-school thrash/death raises the spirits of the early arrivees. DECREPIT [6] deliver expertly executed, no-nonsense death metal. Though a few loyal fans go wild, their performance becomes rather monotonous due to songs clearly in thrall to the likes of Decide and Vital Remains. Norwegians REPTILIAN [7] start off slow, dark and heavy, with a style of dissonant, nightmarish but a doomy death metal. Their set gets faster towards the end without losing its griminess, bordering on the atmosphere of compatriots Obliteration. Fellow Norwegians EXECRATION [8] are known for their unique approach. They manage to combine a multitude of influences – mostly of primitive death metal with progressive elements – into a massively engaging live show. It’s a thrilling performance, and offers proof that Norwegian extreme metal is evolving while still channelling its original potency.

Pestlience: Patrick Mameli frees himeslf from the fusion

MAGDALENA MEDVED

Inquisition trip the blight fantastic

Saracen

Pestilence

Septicflesh

REBAELLIUN, DAMIM

INQUISITION/STAHLSARG

BOSTON ARMS, LONDON

UNDERWORLD, LONDON

Not the obvious choice of opener for a night of 80s heavy metal, but Norwegian doom rockers PURPLE HILL WITCH’s [6] Pagan Altarmeets-Witchcraft heavy rocking riffage is catchy and heavy enough to cross over to non-doom fans as well. ELIMINATOR [7] have been on the metallic fringes for a few years; they’ve taken their sweet time but after a run of vocalists it looks like things have fallen into place. New singer Danny Foster has a phenomenal set of pipes and tonight suggests that their debut full-length may be something very special. Few singers can claim to be world class, even fewer after four decades. SARACEN’s [8] Steve Bettney can. The NWOBHM veterans ply a melodic strain of metal with a prog tint that is a joy to behold. Eighties classics like Meet Me At Midnight and Heroes, Saints And Fools sound simply astonishing. Newer material holds its own, too, and the only question is: why are you not here?

Dutch death metal veterans hit a feverish pitch

Black metal titans combine their forces

FORMERLY DAM, LONDON death metal mainstays DAMIM [8] walk the fine line between forward-thinking, inventive death metal and sheer skull-rattling viciousness, and they do it very well. It’s been more than 10 years since their last album but a new song introduced as Cannibals – but which may end up as Decadents or Amalek – bodes well. The recently revitalised REBAELLIUN [7], on the other hand, are all about the savagery. Their brand of ferocious death is all face-melting blastbeats and chainsaw guitars. Unfortunately for them, sound gremlins undermine what would have been a powerful start. The first couple of songs are reduced to triggered bass drums and a background guitar. Eventually it’s sorted out and they turn in an impressive set of unrelenting aural violence. Since they first graced our shores 25 years ago, legendary Dutch deathsters PESTILENCE [8] have split, reformed, toured, split and reformed again. Backed by a new set of talented musicians, Patrick Mameli is touring a set heavily drawn from Malleus Maleficarum and Consuming Impulse; both are essential albums for any serious death metal fan and three decades on these songs still stand up. Rather than the band’s later jazz-fusion metal, this is their earlier, classic thrash-tinged DM with hooks aplenty, delivered by a band that really seem to be enjoying themselves. Patrick himself looks positively delighted to be touring and the likes of Chronic Infection and Out Of The Body retain their raw appeal after all this time.

ORIGINALLY AN EASTERN Front spin-off, STAHLSARG

ALASTAIR RIDDELL

DAYAL PATTERSON

BATUSHKA: JAMES SHARROCK/PESTILENCE: MARIE KORNER/SEPTICFLESH: WILL IRELAND

ELIMINATOR/ PURPLE HILL WITCH

ALASTAIR RIDDELL

[8] shave found themselves with a recent second album, Mechanisms Of Misanthropy. Tonight they demonstrate the same atmospheric and embittered BM heard there to great effect. Many of those assembled here have come to see INQUISITION [9] and few are disappointed with what they experience. The duo remain a unique experience live. This is second-wave, Scandinavian-inspired BM stripped down to its most minimal components: namely a single layer of guitars, formidable percussion and those instantly recognisable croaked vocals. Successive albums have seen an increasingly psychedelic and otherworldly leaning and it’s impressive that onstage they are able to convey this strange ritualistic and consciousness-bending atmosphere, while simultaneously delivering straight-up aural barbarity. In contrast, SEPTICFLESH [7] are a larger, slicker and more bombastic proposition and the combination of bands is jarring. Still, it’s hard not to be impressed by the intensity and musicianship of the Greek veterans and they attract a just as passionate and sizeable crowd. Unsurprisingly – but nevertheless disappointing – they lean heavily toward more recent material, omitting older classics. Another issue is the use of playback; Septicflesh are a symphonic band and not having at least one keyboard player or clean vocalist feels like an oversight. At one point we’re urged to “hear and feel” the choir – well, we can hear them, but we can’t see them, which is a bit unnerving.

METALHAMMER.COM 129

Pitting your heroes against the test that really matters WORDS: MATT MILLS

WHAT’S THE MOST ILLEGAL THING YOU’VE EVER DONE?

Nothin gM or e

“I guess I’ve travelled internationally with illegal drugs. We try not to do it too often, but sometimes you’ve just got to have your toiletries and your supplies. Ha ha! I’m not a mule! This was maybe three years ago, I don’t think we’d do it anymore. It’s not worth the risk.”

when I was younger. Oh, and I have one from Vinnie Paul, too!” WHAT’S YOUR MOST PAINFUL TATTOO OR PIERCING?

“I had a tattoo done on my Achilles heel – right down it vertically. That was easily the most painful.”

WHAT’S THE MOST METAL ALBUM YOU OWN?

WHAT’S THE MOST METAL PICTURE YOU HAVE ON YOUR PHONE?

“Probably obZen, the Meshuggah record. That is probably the most abrasive one that I have. I feel like it puts me into kind of a meditative trance. It’s kinda like meditation, but the opposite of peace. It’s more like grinding meditation, like I’m riding through Hell on a spaceship. It’s very strange.”

“My girl sends me a lot of amazing and hilarious nudes but I’m not gonna share those. Sometimes she’ll make them funny. But a good one is a pumpkin snowman that’s ripped another pumpkin snowman to pieces and is holding its pumpkin skull. At the bottom it just says ‘Come at me bro’ for Halloween.”

WHAT’S THE WORST INJURY YOU’VE EVER HAD?

WHAT’S THE GROSSEST THING YOU’VE EVER HAD IN YOUR MOUTH?

“When we used to travel without a bus, we used to have to pee in water bottles. And there was one night when I had a few drinks in me and I was so thirsty. I was stumbling back to our van and I reached for what I thought was a Gatorade bottle. I took a huge swig of that because I was super-thirsty and turns out that it wasn’t Gatorade. It was our drummer’s urine.” WHAT’S THE MOST YOU’VE EVER BEEN SICK?

“I used to get respiratory infections when I was a kid. I got bronchitis that turned into pneumonia and it made me sick for, like, two weeks.”

Jonny Hawkins: he bleeds for his art. Just not intentionally…

“I DRANK OUR DRUMMER’S URINE”

Jonny gets a pretty decent score overall, mostly bolstered by drugs, getting to hang out with drumming royalty… and drinking piss. Gross, dude.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU BLED?

“That was during yesterday’s show, but I don’t even know what happened! We have all these metal devices onstage that our bass player built and he leaves a lot of the edges sharp and rusty. Suddenly my tour manager kept coming onstage and patting me with this towel. I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ and he just said, ‘You’re bleeding!’ I had cut my shoulder on something…”

WHAT’S THE WORST FIGHT YOU’VE EVER BEEN IN?

WHAT’S THE RAREST PIECE OF MERCHANDISE YOU OWN?

“I wrestled in high school and have done jiu-jitsu. But the last real fight I remember getting in was in late middle school. Me and this other kid just punched each other in the face five to 10 times each. And then we were friend afterwards! We worked things out.”

“I have a lot of things from the road. I was given a drumstick by Mike Portnoy, who drummed for Dream Theater back in the day. He was a huge inspiration to me

130 METALHAMMER.COM

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

THE STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES IS OUT NOW VIA ELEVEN SEVEN

10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

SCORE (OUTOF 10)

“I have had a few concussions playing sports growing up. I remember having one that threw me for a loop for a few days. I couldn’t remember the whole day and the next few days were fuzzy. I was riding my bike and I just smashed my head against some concrete. If there’s anything wrong with me, that’s probably the cause! I have injured myself onstage but it’s always been, like, a cut foot or a bruise. I’ve never broken anything onstage.”

Larissa Stupar Ben Weinman

Jonny Hawkins Doyle Floor Jansen

9000

9001