Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Former Megadeth, King Diamond guitarist Glen Drover. Drover spoke about his new Band/Project Walls of Blood and his new album Imperium which will be release February 22 2019 via Metalville. He also spoke about his days recording with Megadeth on United Abominations and King Diamond’s album House of God.
Watch the interview here:
When asked about his new project Walls of Blood
“I started this project about six years ago. What happened was for fun in between whatever I was doing at that point, I got Henning Basse (Firewind, Mayan) to sing an old Eidolon song that I’d always loved but unfortunately was destroyed by mediocre vocals. So I gave Henning the lyrics but not the original music, I didn’t want him to listen to the original melodies and he just loved it and we did the track and it came out killer. Then shortly after that I had started talking to Todd LaTorre from Queensryche and he said yeah let’s do a song. So I thought to myself you know what how about an album that’ll have multiple guest singers on it. Ten songs, ten different singers and that was the original design and that’s what ended up happening in the end. I think we did a good job and making everything sound real cohesive with all the different singers. It’s pure heavy metal, there’s some pretty heavy stuff on it you know, there’s a lot of melody too.”
When asked if he would Tour with Walls of Blood
“I compare my situation to Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel, Jake formed a band and released an album that had different singers. I think he was testing the waters, since he had not been in the industry for sometime. Then he did a tour and it turned out really positive and then on Jake’s second album he decided just to have one singer and tour. I feel the same way let’s see how it goes on this album, test the waters and then I am open to anything that makes sense in regards to touring.”
When asked what he thinks of Megadeth’s United Abomination album today
“I think it came out really well, it’s a very strong album, there are songs on there that I favour more than others of course but overall I think it’s a great album. My favorite albums by Megadeth are the first three ones, especially So far So good, So What and Peace Sells But who’s Buying.”
When asked about his experience working on the album with Dave Mustaine and if Dave sang him the solos to reproduce
“Dave I got along with him really well, he wasn’t a taskmaster with me you know I always went in very prepared. I did my homework so much that he really didn’t question a whole lot. When it came to solos I would do something and then Dave would go why don’t you try something like this. Dave was not singing all the notes in the solos he was just kind of mimicked the melodies and the flow of the tempo of the solo. That’s what it was like for me I can only speak for myself. “
“I remember doing Sleepwalker, the first song on the album. By the way, that song wasn’t going to make the album thank god it did because it’s pretty much one of the very a few up-tempo tracks because there were too many mid-tempo songs and we needed something that was going to be more of a fast. But Dave didn’t want to do it. In the end what happened was me and Andy Sneap did a demo of it and sent it to the record company and they said yeah we’re using this one. So I guess Dave was overpowered on that sorry Dave but that’s how the story went.”
When asked about his experience working on the King Diamond album House of God
“It was amazed experience. How I got the gig was as I sent an audition tape in the early 90’s to their people while I was still living at home, I was really young. King liked it and we kept in contact and then the situation came up in 1997 and he called me and said you want a job and that was that. It was great everybody got along really well together. In the studio I just went in and had a lot of fun. They flew me into to Dallas and I spent two weeks just doing all my solos. I would do three or four songs a day and then I go back to the hotel that night and work out the songs for the next day and I go in. I also had a great time touring but my lifestyle had changed, I got married and I had a kid on the way, so I couldn’t just rely on the sporadic touring that would happen here and there.”
When asked if he had any regrets leaving King Diamond and Megadeth too soon
“For King Diamond I don’t have any regrets because I’m not sure how much of a difference it really would have made after I left King Diamond, their next album was Abigail two. Yeah it that came out okay but I would say the House of God album is a little stronger. For Megadeth there was issues that came up and I had to go at that point. I couldn’t have stayed any longer because of what was going on and I didn’t have any regrets. If I stayed in there longer there might have been more problems but I I left when I had to and that was that.”
WALLS OF BLOOD, “Imperium”, contains 10 songs of “high-class power metal,” with guest appearances by some of the genre’s most acclaimed vocalists, including Tim Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH), Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT), Todd La Torre (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Henning Basse (METALLIUM, FIREWIND).
Drover handled all guitars and keyboards on the album, while the drums were tracked by Scott Barrymore and bass by Chris Myles (except the songs “Discordia” and “Tarnished Dream”, which feature bass by Joe DiBiase). All music was recorded, produced and engineered by Drover at Eclipse Recording in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
“Imperium” track listing:
01. Leave This World Behind (feat. Nils K. Rue)
02. Discordia (feat. Todd La Torre)
03. Waiting To Die (feat. Chuck Billy)
04. Blood Sacrifice Ritual (feat. Henning Nasse)
05. Tarnished Dream (feat. Tim Owens)
06. Walls Of Blood (feat. Matt Cuthbertson)
07. The Fault Of Man (feat. Henning Basse)
08. Dark Lords Of Sleep (feat. Dan Cleary)
09. Junkhead (ALICE IN CHAINS cover) (feat. Lance Harvill)
10. Seven Spirits (feat. Henning Basse)
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 