Nuclear Blast has issued that the Tampa metallers DARK SERMON have uploaded the music video for the track “In Tongues” on youtube which is the title track off the band’s upcoming new album. Check it out here:
Founded in 2009, DARK SERMON arrived in the worldwide metal community determined to stand apart from the cookie-cutter garbage and trend-following cretins who have overcrowded the scene. They don’t care about what’s marketable or what sells. The band has nothing less than total domination on their minds, armed with a new kind of heavy. The suffocating stomp of BEHEMOTH the brash experimentalism of GOJIRA and the all-out ferocity of American heroes like JOB FOR A COWBOY and THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER all have a home in DARK SERMON’s cookbook, which slices and dices its way through the most exciting elements of metal’s subgenres with relentless aggression.
Facing the recent Europe-wide signing with Nuclear Blast and the future cooperation, front man Johnny Crowder comments: “Nuclear Blast is a label we have respected and revered since we started this band. It is both an honour and a privilege to be working with such a heavy-hitter in Europe. There’s no one we’d rather have on our side!”
The band’s full-length debut entitled “In Tongues” was recorded at Audio Hammer Studios, Florida, and will be released in Europe on April 12, 2013. The cover artwork was created by Eliran Kantor, who has already designed artworks for bands such as HATEBREED, TESTAMENT and SODOM.
More news on DARK SERMON and “In Tongues” to follow soon!
RockNLive.org recently conducted an interview with vocalist Jonas Renkse of Swedish dark rockers KATATONIA. You can now watch the chat below.
KATATONIA‘s new album, “Dead End Kings”, is scheduled for release on August 28 (one day earlier internationally) via Peaceville Records. The CD, which will feature a guest appearance by Norwegian singer Silje Wergeland (THE GATHERING), was recorded over a two-month period at Stockholm’s Ghost Ward studios and the band’s new, as-yet-unnamed headquarters. David Castillo returned to “twiddle the knobs,” while band co-founders Anders “Blakkheim” Nyström and Jonas Renkse handled the rest of the production duties.
“Dead End Kings” track listing:
01. The Parting
02. The One You Are Looking for is Not Here
03. Hypnone
04. The Racing Heart
05. Buildings
06. Leech
07. Ambitions
08. Undo You
09. Lethean
10. First Prayer
11. Dead Letters
ALCHEM is a female fronted Italian progressive metal band. Lisa and Pierpaolo give life to a band called Acidaluna some years ago. Some sessions become part of the band(drummer,violin players)and they give more enphasis to a project that is surely a cradle of originality and research of new musical horizons. They decide to have ALCHEM as name and record a demo … I decided to do this “blind” interview” to leave space to the band and let the people know more about them. I hope all of you readers and the band likes my idea.
Hi guys! I’m Sylvi from Metal Shock Finland! It ‘a pleasure for me to do this interview and to talk with you, how are you?
Hi Sylvi! Thanks to you and to Metal Shock Finland. .we are well and inspired ,it’s a pleasure for us to talk with you
As I said, my interview will be made ??as if I did not know you at all, so let’s start from the beginning, from its origins. You exactly where you are? (I ask every member of the band)
We all are from Italy,Rome.
Alchem- Tarantola Maggio 2008
How and when did you start to have a passion for music? And especially when you realize to want to turn this passion into something bigger?
our passion for music began in childhood, we all started playing in bands very young. We have always gravitated around the Italian underground and it was natural to turn this passion into something more, with all the difficulties which the Italian bands , genre alternative, have , such as self-finance their project, little support from major media, line up changes
etc. must be a very big passion to survive
How did you meet? What were the initials “agreements”? I mean, what were you talking while the Alchem project grew little by little?
It’s a long history Piero and Lisa came from different experiences and have combined their creativity to form ALCHEM and are the founders.
They had different styles of music and ideas to want to melt, beyond a predetermined genre . did not want to be locked into a genre but to release what we feel through music, In fact, our songs do not follow a predetermined wire except amalgam of our different creativity. This is what we talk about even now with the other elements of the band, Paolo on bass, drummer Max, Susy on keyboards(recently entered into our band) we all have different backgrounds
Alchem, why did you choose this name? It can be connected to your music or your atmospheres?
because this mix of ideas is very much like what an alchemist makes looking for himself or the missing part of the truth. basically what we call reality is a continuous mix and change of elements apparently even dissonant
in metamorphosis. This may represent in some way our music.
Annalisa, how it feels to be the frontwoman of a band? What are your roles in the works?
well, I’m comfortable I really wanted this project and I have the freedom to express my ideas, my melodies and lyrics. We have now an established way of composing, there is a lot of dialogue and cooperation between us. I do not consider the frontwoman of the band but an important part, of course fundamental, but the others also are. each one has its role.
Your primary influences?
This is the hardest question of all. everyone listens to music for years and we are definitely influenced by everything we have heard that it was in tune with us and from what we heard we pulled out ourselves with our strengths and weaknesses
Do you believe that “Dark Progressive Metal” is the term most appropriate for your music? Do you think that could change the course of time?
As we said is very difficult to label a band, I think people feel the need to do it especially with the bands not very well known for having an orientation. I believe that definition is too general and not applies to all our songs. We have many songs that are waiting to be well recorded that can be defined as progressive. Many people define us “Gothic” even if we admit to be slightly gothic inspired, for those who listen gothic defines us Metal, and Metal purists do not recognize us among their kind. The truth is that all these elements coexist in us because our backgrounds are all the bands that we loved and listened to over the years
Do you believe that the Italian music (Metal and not) is in crisis? If so, why?
music in general is in crisis, but not because there are not listeners, simply because it changed the businness and the majors being afraid of the new bands and continue to support bands already existing. The market for independent labels, despite their invaluable work they can’t within their means to invade the official market of new music releases. This is because the official Italian market absolutely not support alternative music and only provides to himself gains with Italian national pop music. So happens that scattered for Italy there are many really good music realities that does not get set, have trouble getting to know, and often people give up the music. They also have to finance themselves to produce excellent works, and this with the economic crisis is not always possible. Sometimes, underground bands are reviewed like the band signed to major label but it is a comparison not feasible. These have in fact a production that have a cost that an underground band obviously can not afford.
ALCHEM Photo by Stefano Felice Guidi
Why should people listen to Alchem? If you could choose, what would you like that people feel while listening to Alchem?
There isn’t a feeling that we want others to test, everyone should be free to try whatever he wants, we are all different and each has its own inner world, his tastes. What we enjoy is knowing that right now someone is listening to our music, trying his feelings and if he chose to listen to us we have been enjoyable for him
This is a personal question: Besides the Alchem, you carry out another job?
Yes ,we all take care of other things.. Piero and Paolo working on graphics and video , In fact, Piero (Capuano) has created the flyers and CD artwork (with photos taken by Claudia Ortu,) and Paolo(Tempesta) has made our first official video of “Whispering Clouds” from “Florilegium” which is not a official full length but a collection of demo tracks through time, from our beginnings to today. Lisa and Max are sometimes occasional teachers
I know you have a very active activity live, how are your shows? How people respond? Where you did your last show?
We try to play in all situations, trying to communicate what we are, we like to stay in contact with people who came to see us and to entertain and talk with them even after the live. We learned a lot playing around , knowing many good bands that play with passion like us, every live is a valuable experience.
Last show was in Rome April 26 in a small club at the center of the capital
We are happy to see that the audience listens attentively to our proposal
One day the name Alchem will be accompanied with the names of bands such as ….?
I dare not even think … certainly we would love to open for bands most famous
and would be too many to list.
Who created your charming logo? There were specific agreements about how had to be done?
Thanks for the compliment! the logo was initially created as a tattoo (In fact it is the tattoo that have both Piero and Lisa it has to do with alchemy because it represents the duality of each element , and we decided to use it as a logo. was done by the guitarist Piero.
I found an interesting the choice to sing in both English and Italian, what you say about it? Which of the two languages you ??prefer for sing?
The beginning, I preferred the Italian language, for me it was more direct. Then the musicality of the English language and the desire to make myself understood by more people made me change my mind
English language can be considered the mother tongue of rock singing
while Italian is traditionally the language of “bel canto”. I have a classical approach so I mixed the two. But now I’m thinking to start to sing again in both languages, I noticed that the Italian audience appreciates it when I sing in Italian , naturally perceives it more directly. One day I’d sing a few words also in Spanish;)
Are you currently recording something? Or do you have plans for this year?
As we said before, we have in mind to record existing songs that were never recorded and new songs that come from the alchemical mixture of new elements that make up the band now, and something of acoustic.
If you have something to say that you have not said in this interview, this space is yours! You can talk openly to our readers by saying everything that people still do not know about Alchem!
thanks again to you and Metal Shock Finland for this opportunity. we take this opportunity to salute all those who support us and we hope soon to offer better quality new works. See you soon \m/
Italian power metal band MASTERCASTLE was formed in January 2008 by the guitarist Pier Gonella and the singer Giorgia Gueglio. These two guys had several music projects in the past and they wanted to try something different. No fixed genre was chosen with the emphasis on producing music in a natural way. The result was a natural mix of the virtuoso guitar style of Pier with the individual female voicals of Giorgia Gueglio which work well together. The line-up was completed by the drummer Alessandro Bissa (aka Bix) and the bassist Steve Vawamas. Mastercastle’s latest album, Dangerous Diamonds, came out last year.
Recently MSFinland‘s Sylvi had a chance to interview band’s guitarist Pier Gonella, here’s the conversation..
Hi Pier, I’m Sylvi from MSFinland! Nice to meet you! 1. First of all, congratulations for “Dangerous Diamonds” I read a lots of positive reviews about it. Do you ever read the them?
Hi Sylvi, first of all thank you for this interview. Sure, when I can, I read all the reviews that I find, and it is a delicate moment because I pledge myself very in the album recording and sometimes reading critics is very bad. But I say the truth, I never received exaggerated critics. Then of course there are many elements of subjective tastes which should be respected. Dangerous Diamonds has been reviewed very well everywhere, you can check it with a search in the web, I’m so enthusiastic about this. Continue Reading
SERENITY is a power/symphonic metal band from east of Innsbruck in Tyrol. They are a young band much loved by audience and critics for their powerful sound. Not so recently (in the February 2011) they released their third studio album called “Death & Legacy”. And today we are here to talk with Fabio D’Amore the bassplayer of the band.
Hi Fabio! I’m Sylvi from MSFinland, how are you? I hope all is well.
Hi Sylvi, everything is fine over here, and there?
All is good also here thanks! Let start with this interview…
Ok cool…
1. Can you introduce better the band to our readers?
Sure! Serenity is a symphonic melodic metal band, based in Austria, influenced by gothic and other melodic styles, with a touch of female vocals. The band is currently working on the 4th album, after 3 other full-length, 8 European tours supporting bands like Kamelot, Epica, Leaves’Eyes, Delain, Van Canto, Tristania, Morgana Lefay, Sacred Steel, Threshold and so on, and many festival appearances. Continue Reading
After more than ten years since their debut, the finnish band NOWEN are ready to return with their new album called “Essence of Fear” that will be released i the January 2012, via Violent Journey Records.
Hi guys, I’m Sylvi from MSFinland, how are you?
Lappis(Guitarist, vocals): I’m fine, or we’re fine, thanks for asking. Little busy at work but that’s just life.
Jarno(Bass): It seems we’re both fine, thank you for asking!
1. So, soon your new album will be released. How do you feel about it? Are you nervous?
Lappis: I feel very confident about our new album. It’s a strong and powerful record with lots of different kind of emotions and senses. It’s fast, it’s heavy, it’s dark, it’s agressive, it’s diverse and it’s tight as hell. The album also sounds great, very natural sounds on drums. No triggers or samples were used on this records so it’s pretty damn dynamic album. Our drummer also played the whole album live without timer or click, whatever you want to call it, so there is a lot of groove in this album. So no, I am not nervous at all. Hopefully people will like it as much as we do. There must be something wrong with their heads and ears if they won’t like this record!
Jarno: The album is great in my opinion and I believe it will have good responses among listeners. I’m not nervous at all as I am quite confident too with the content of the album. I only have good feelings about it. Continue Reading
We are here today with ABOVE THIS, a Metal Core/Death Core band born in Norfolk/Virginia Beach. Their last album “7L7″, released in August, is enjoying a great success. Even in the web, the reviews and comments from listeners of this music genre seem to be positive. But now we try to know ABOVE THIS more closely, and let’s see what band’s vocalist, Shawn O’Brien, has to say…
1. Hello Shawn! I’m Sylvi from Metal Shock Finland. Happy to do this interview with you .. lets start from the origins: How did you meet and how you decided to form a band?
I met Thomas Buser onlone about a year ago, it was on youtube after i had been viewing some of his instrumental tracks that he has posted up. I hit him up and he agreed to work with me on a sample project so that i could try my vocals out with his music. Little before we knew it, we had a band going.
2. Do you guys get along well?
Me and Thomas have a relationship that is hard to explain. We know how to work to get things done and get our music out there in a record time. But the fact that i live in the U.S and he lives in Germany, changes the relationship factor because i have never met him in person. But as for conversation and friendship i feel that if we ever did meet in person, i’m sure we would get along like brothers. Continue Reading
SHEAR, from Finland with their energetic, overwhelming and sometimes melancholy Metal, have conquered the heart of many people getting approvals everywhere. And today we offer a brief interview with Alexa Leroux, frontwoman of the group. Angelic face but aggressive and powerful voice.
1. Hi Alexa, I’m Sylvi. When and how did you understand that you wanted to become a singer?
Hello Sylvi! Since a very young age I was a very much into singing. I loved bands like Queen and Aerosmith. In Fact, I was specialized in singing guitar solos! And this was when I was about six years old. Then again, I loved classical music, because we listened to a lot of it at home. I loved singing along to operas and at nine years old I asked my parents to pay for lessons and that’s when I started my journey in classical music.
2. Tell me, how did you get in touch with the band, and how did you join it?
I had been looking for a band for quite a while but it seemed impossible to find a band with good players and a great sense of humor. Then suddenly I saw an add for this band called Crystal Blaze(CB) looking for a vocalist. I looked at their myspace and saw that we had some mutual friends who I had played with before, then I saw CB had played at Wacken and after listening to some demos I contacted them. We had one training session together, laughed a lot, were really in sync and that was it. I was in the band.
3. Have you ever thought to make a “solo album”?
My whole life I’ve thought of making several types of albums, solo or with a band. Probably at some point it would be cool to make a solo album if I feel that there’s a side of me that I’d like to show more and it is impossible to integrate into Shear’s music. But as of now, I’ve co-written pretty much all the songs, so I’m not limited in Shear. 4. In addition to Metal, what kind of music gender do you listen to?
I listen to a lot of different genres. I think that as a musician it is not healthy to listen only to one type of music. I admit I listen mainly to metal, but I love classic rock ‘n roll, Thin Lizzy being one of my all-time favorites. I also am very much into country rock, hip hop and pop. Apart from that I listen to a lot of classical music because of my musical background and the fact that I still practice it. Some personal favorites are Benjamin Britten, Tchaikovsky and Léo Delibes.
5. If one day you will get tired to be a Metal singer, to what kind of music gender would you approach?
Hahah, I don’t know, I don’t see that day coming very soon! Maybe I should start by making a Christmas album with a big band or something. That would be fun.
6. How do you prepare yourself psychologically before the shows?
After warming up vocally and physically I sit alone quiet for about 15 min. I go through things in my mind and just focus on the moment.
7. What inspires you to carry on with your career?
What inspires me is the fact that music is my first love and the one thing that’s always been the biggest part of my life. That’s pretty much it.
8. How has your life changed since you became SHEAR’s singer?
It hasn’t really changed that much. One of the biggest changes is probably that I just feel better about myself because I’m actually accomplishing what I want in life right now. 9. What is the most good thing and the most bad thing in your career?
The best part is when people tell you they love your songs, or when you see someone singing along at gigs, that’s probably the best. The worst thing has to be that a lot of people seem to think that life is a big music competition and I just don’t appreciate a lot of the comparisons people make. I don’t see why anyone would want to rank singers, for example. I believe there is plenty of room in this world for more singers than just one.
10. How do you take criticism?
Well, it depends. If someone tells you you’re bad, they have to be able to say specifically what in their opinion was wrong. You don’t always have to agree, but it is good to listen. Of course not all criticism is bad, but you have to take the good criticism with a pinch of salt, too. You can’t just believe anything and everything.
11. During your free time, do you meet with the other members of the band?
All the time. We are a very tight unit.
12. Thinking about your career, what is the thing that most scares you?
As a musician, probably losing my hearing is the worst nightmare. If I would for some reason lose my voice I’d still be able to make music, but not being able to hear, that would be the saddest situation.
13. How is your relationship with the fans?
I’ve mostly only spoken to people who like our music in a Finland. It’s been fun to hear what they like and how it makes them feel. It helps you look at your music from a different point of view.
14. With which artist you’d like to make a duet?
Maybe Devin Townsend. But it would also be a dream to work with Dimmu Borgir.
15. When you are at home, you listen to your band or do you prefer to listen to something else?
Mainly other stuff. Lately Dream Theater’s ‘A Dramatic Turn Of Events’.
16. Thanks Alexa for this interview. Now the last word is yours…
Thank you. I hope people like our upcoming album and make sure to get it!
Piero and Lisa came from different experiences and have combined their creativity to form ALCHEM and are the founders.
I really wanted this project and I have the freedom to express my ideas, my melodies and lyrics. We have now an established way of composing, there is a lot of dialogue and cooperation between us. I do not consider the frontwoman of the band but an important part, of course fundamental, but the others also are. each one has its role.
